Billie Gillespie
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | William Gillespie | ||
| Date of birth | 2 October 1873 | ||
| Place of birth | Strathclyde, Scotland | ||
| Date of death | 1942 (aged 67–68) | ||
| Playing position | Centre forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1895–1897 | Lincoln City | 37 | (16) |
| 1897–1905 | Manchester City | 218 | (126) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
|||
Billie Gillespie (2 October 1873 – 1942) was a Scottish football player who was a centre forward who 'hung around in the penalty circle and picked up lots of goals'. He played for Manchester City F.C. between 1896 and 1904 appearing 217 times and scoring 125 goals.
William (Billy) Gillespie was born in Strathclyde, Scotland, on 2 October 1873. He began his football career playing for his local team Strathclyde.
In 1895 Gillespie signed for Lincoln City who were then in the Second Division of the English Football League. In 37 games for the team he scored 16 goals.
In January 1897 Gillespie signed for Manchester City who were also in the second tier of English football. He formed an effective partnership with the Welsh outside right Billy Meredith. He scored his first goal for City in a 3–1 defeat to Darwen. In his first season for the Manchester team he made 11 appearances and scored 4 times. The team finished sixth in the league 10 points behind winners Notts County.
In the 1897–98 season he was City's leading scorer with 18 goals in 30 games, helping the team to third in the second division, nine points behind winners Burnley.In the following season, the 1898–99 football season, he was the club's second leading goalscorer with 17 goals and helped City, who were only defeated twice in the entire season, to earn promotion to the first division. Billy Meredith was the team's leading goalscorer with 29 goals.
In the 1899–1900 football season Gillespie scored 8 goals and was City's third highest goalscorer. The team finished in seventh place that season. Gillespie's first goal in the top tier of English football came in a 4–0 victory over Derby County. In the 1900–01 season Gillespie found his place in the team challenged by Joe Cassidy who was the team's leading goalscorer with 14 goals that season. However Cassidy moved to Middlesbrough after a wage dispute. Gillespie had managed to score 9 goals in 23 appearances that season.
...
Wikipedia