Willie Stevenson

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Willie Stevenson
Willie Stevenson (1966) .jpg
Personnel
Surname William Stevenson
birthday October 26, 1939
place of birth Leith ,  Scotland
position External rotor (left)
Juniors
Years station
Dalkeith Thistle
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1958–1962 Glasgow Rangers 73 0(1)
1962-1967 Liverpool FC 118 (15)
1967-1973 Stoke City 94 0(5)
1971 →  Hellenic FC  (loan)
1973-1974 Tranmere Rovers 20 0(0)
1974 Vancouver Whitecaps 19 0(0)
1974-1975 Macclesfield Town
1 Only league games are given.

William "Willie" Stevenson (born October 26, 1939 in Leith ) is a former Scottish football player . The left wing runner had his most successful time at Liverpool in the mid-1960s . There he won the domestic championship in 1964 and 1966 and the English Cup in 1965 .

Athletic career

Stevenson played for Scotland as a student before joining the Glasgow Rangers as an amateur in 1955 at the age of 16 . The Rangers let him develop in their own youth team Dalkeith Thistle and after a year he signed his first professional contract with the Rangers. He made his league debut the day before his 19th birthday and quickly developed in the position of left wing runner to a regular player in a team that won the Scottish championship title in 1959 and the cup a year later . Another highlight for the tall, elegant and passable youngster was reaching the semi-finals in the European Cup , which was finally lost to Eintracht Frankfurt . In his third year Stevenson suffered from a form weakness, which was also due to the fact that he had played 65 competitive games in the previous season. The Rangers had signed the talented Jim Baxter , who initially acted as a left half-forward. The formation proved to be less than optimal and Baxter was withdrawn to Stevenson's position, who in turn was downgraded to the reserve team. After a year in the second team, there was a dispute over Stevenson's contract. The Rangers did not want to let Stevenson go and kept his player pass. So Stevenson tried it with a move to Australia. The local football association was not part of FIFA at the time , but after a few months its plans came to nothing, also because the Football Federation Australia wanted to be recognized by the world football association again. Around the same time, Bill Shankly from Liverpool FC made an offer to move and in October 1962 Stevenson was finally hired by the "Reds".

After his debut against Burnley FC (1: 2) , he quickly took over the half-left position from his compatriot Tommy Leishman and in his first season 1962/63 he helped Liverpool, which had only just been promoted back to the top division, to a respectable eighth Place . The most successful period in his football career followed when he won the domestic championship in 1964 and 1966 and the English Cup in 1965 . He harmonized particularly well with the attacking winger Peter Thompson in front of him. During the FA Cup success, he contributed the penalty goal to the 2-0 final score in the semi-final against Chelsea a good ten minutes before the end, after his teammates had awarded six penalties in a row during the previous season. The final defeat in the European Cup Winners' Cup against Borussia Dortmund disappointed him so much in May 1966 that he threw his “loser's medal” out of the window of the shower room - and, to his chagrin, never found it again. In the season 1967/68 the displaced from him Blackpool committed Emlyn Hughes from the starting lineup and only on 25 November 1967, he came against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the domestic championship used. He said goodbye with the decisive penalty for a 2-1 victory and the just 28-year-old said goodbye in December 1967 in the direction of first division rivals Stoke City .

Stevenson spent a good five years with the "Potters" and was briefly active in 1971 in South Africa with Hellenic FC before he returned to his adopted home Merseyside . There he completed the 1973/74 season under his ex-Liverpool teammate and compatriot Ron Yeats for the third division Tranmere Rovers , which was followed by a year in the North American NASL in the service of the Vancouver Whitecaps . He then let his active career end at the amateur club Macclesfield Town .

After retiring from sport, he worked as an innkeeper and ran a cleaning company in Macclesfield.

Title / Awards

Web links

Individual references / footnotes

  1. ↑ Legend Willie Stevenson (LFCHistory.net)
  2. ↑ Player Profile: Willie Stevenson (LFCHistory.net)
  3. ↑ "Forgotten Hero: Willie Stevenson" (thisisanfield.com)
personal data
SURNAME Stevenson, Willie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stevenson, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION scottish soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH October 26, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Leith , Scotland