Willie Maley
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | William Patrick Maley | ||
| Date of birth | 25 April 1868 | ||
| Place of birth | Newry, County Down, Ireland | ||
| Date of death | 2 April 1958 (aged 89) | ||
| Place of death | Glasgow, Scotland | ||
| Playing position | Half Back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1886 | Cathcart Hazelbank Juniors | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1887 | Third Lanark | 0 | (0) |
| 1888–1897 | Celtic | 75 | (2) |
| 1896 | Manchester City | 1 | (0) |
| Total | 76 | (2) | |
| National team | |||
| 1893 | Scotland | 2 | (0) |
| 1892–1894 | Scottish League XI | 2 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1897–1940 | Celtic | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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William Patrick "Willie" Maley (25 April 1868 – 2 April 1958) was a Scottish football player and manager. He was the first manager of Celtic Football Club, and one of the most successful managers in Scottish football history. During his managerial tenure Maley led Celtic to thirty major trophies (16 league championships and 14 Scottish Cups) in forty-three consecutive years as manager.
Maley was born in Newry Barracks, County Down, Ireland, the third son of Thomas Maley and Mary Montgomery. Thomas came from Ennis, County Clare, while Mary had been born in Canada to Scottish parents. At the time of his son's birth, Thomas was stationed in Newry as a sergeant in the 21st (Royal North British Fusilier) Regiment of Foot. In 1869, Thomas took honourable discharge from the British Army and the family moved to Scotland, settling in Cathcart - at that time a village just south of Glasgow.
Willie Maley left school at the age of 13 and worked for a few years in the printworks of Miller, Higginbotham & Co., and then at the Telephone Company of Glasgow. Eventually he was offered the opportunity to train as a chartered accountant with Smith and Wilson, a Glasgow accountancy firm. As a young man, Maley was much more involved in athletics than in football, although he had played a few games for Cathcart Hazelbank Juniors in 1886 and had played with Third Lanark from later that year.
It was on a visit to in Cathcart in December 1887 to invite his brother Tom Maley to join Celtic that Brother Walfrid and the rest of the Celtic deputation first met Willie Maley and they casually invited Willie to come along. In 1888, he was signed by the fledgling Celtic and became one of the club's first players as a midfielder. In 1896, he made a single appearance for Manchester City in a Second Division match against Loughborough. Due to his Scottish maternal grandparents and his having lived in Scotland since the age of one, Maley played for the Scottish national team, earning two caps in 1893 against England and Ireland. Maley represented the Scottish League twice.
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