Willie Falconer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Willie Falconer | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | William Henry Falconer | |
| Date of birth | April 5, 1966 | |
| Place of birth | Aberdeen, Scotland | |
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | |
| Playing position | Utility Player | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1982-1988 1988-1991 1991-1993 1993-1994 1994-1996 1996-1998 1998-2001 2001-2001 2001-2002 2002-2002 2002-2003 |
Aberdeen Watford Middlesbrough Sheffield United Celtic Motherwell Dundee Clydebank St. Johnstone Grimsby Clyde |
77 (13) 71 (12) 53 (10) 23 (3) 42 (5) 66 (11) 78 (21) 1 (0) 29 (3) 2 (0) 20 (4) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
William "Willie" Henry Falconer (born 5 April 1966 in Aberdeen) was an Scottish professional footballer who played for a string of Scottish and English clubs from 1982 to 2003. He could play in virtually any position on the pitch, but was most commonly used as a midfielder.
Falconer began his career playing for his home town club, Aberdeen, in 1982. During the 6 years there he made 77 appearances and scoring 13 goals.
After 6 years with Aberdeen he moved south of the border to Watford for £300,000. During his 3 years at Watford, Willie played 71 games, scoring 12 goals. He also gained a reputation as a no nonense, tough tackling midfielder, and was sent off on more than one occasion.
In 1991 Willie moved to Middlesbrough (then managed by Lennie Lawrence) in a swap deal involving Trevor Putney moving the other way. Willie's first season at Boro was successful with the team winning promotion from the old 2nd Division and entering the inaugural Premier League, and also reaching the semi finals of the League Cup (then known as the Rumbelows Cup). However, Willie's next season wasn't as happy as an ill-equipped Middlesbrough side were relegated from the Premier League. The following summer Willie was sold to Sheffield United for £400,000.
After a season with Sheffield United, Falconer was transferred back north of the border to Celtic for £350,000. Although he only played 33 games in 3 years for Celtic, he became somewhat of a cult hero there. His transfer also spelt the end for the Celtic board at that time, as the bank refused to pay his transfer fee.
After Celtic, Willie's career involved a lot of clubs in not very many years. He spent most of his remaining years in Scotland, playing for Motherwell, Dundee, Clydebank, St. Johnstone and Clyde. However, he did move back to England with Grimsby in 2002 for one start and one substitution appearance.
