Billy Spurdle
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | William Spurdle | ||
| Date of birth | 28 January 1926 | ||
| Place of birth | Saint Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands | ||
| Date of death | 20 June 2011 (aged 85) | ||
| Place of death | Guernsey, Channel Islands | ||
| Playing position | Wing half / Winger | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1948–1950 | Oldham Athletic | 56 | (5) |
| 1950–1956 | Manchester City | 160 | (32) |
| 1956–1957 | Port Vale | 21 | (7) |
| 1957–1963 | Oldham Athletic | 144 | (19) |
| Total | 381 | (63) | |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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William Spurdle (28 January 1926 – 20 June 2011) is a former football player, who played as a wing half. He scored 63 goals in 381 league appearances in a 16-year professional career in the Football League.
He started his career with Oldham Athletic in 1947, before winning a £12,000 move to Manchester City two years later. He helped the club to win promotion out of the Second Division in the 1950–51 campaign, and went on to feature in the 1955 FA Cup Final defeat to Newcastle United. He was sold to Port Vale in November 1956 for a £4,000 fee, before returning to Oldham at the end of the season for a £1,000 fee. He helped the "Latics" to win promotion out of the Fourth Division in 1962–63, his final season as a professional player.
Spurdle began his career at Oldham Athletic in March 1948, having moved to Oldham from his native Guernsey during World War II to escape Nazi Germany's occupation of the Channel Islands. He served in the Royal Navy during the war. He scored five goals in 56 Third Division North appearances as Billy Wootton's "Latics" posted 11th and sixth-place finishes in the 1947–48 and 1948–49 campaigns.
Spurdle then joined Jock Thomson's Manchester City for a £12,000 fee in January 1950, but could not prevent the club from suffering relegation out of the First Division in 1949–50.Les McDowall was then put in charge at Maine Road, and led the club to an immediate promotion with a second-place finish in the Second Division in 1950–51. After Spurdle helped the "Citizens" to a 15th-place finish in 1951–52, he finished as the club's joint top-scorer (with Johnny Williamson) in the 1952–53 season with 12 goals. City struggled in the lower half of the table in the 1953–54 campaign, before exploiting the "Revie plan" to push on to a seventh-place finish in 1954–55. They also improved their FA Cup form, and reached the 1955 FA Cup Final at Wembley, where they were beaten 3–1 by Newcastle United; Spurdle was forced to spend most of the game playing at right-back after an injury to Jimmy Meadows left them with only ten players. The "Sky Blues" improved further in the 1955–56 season, finishing fourth and reaching the FA Cup final for a second consecutive year. Spurdle was unable to play in the 1956 FA Cup Final due to a severe outbreak of boils on his arm; Revie took his number 7 shirt and helped City to beat Birmingham City 3–1 in his absence.
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