William Maxwell (footballer)

William Maxwell
Personal information
Full name	William Sturrock Maxwell
Date of birth	21 September 1876
Place of birth	Arbroath, Scotland
Date of death	14 July 1940 (aged 63)
Place of death	Kirkcaldy, Scotland
Position(s)	Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team
1892	Hearts Strollers
1893–1894	Arbroath
1894	Dundee
1894	Heart of Midlothian
1894–1895	Dundee
1895–1901	Stoke
1901–1902	Third Lanark
1902–1903	Sunderland
1903–1905	Millwall Athletic
1905–1908	Bristol City
1909–1910	Léopold
Total
International career
1898	Scotland
1902	Scottish Football League XI
Managerial career
1910–1913	Belgium
1920–1928	Belgium
1937–1938	Cercle Brugge
Medal record
Men's football
Representing Belgium (as manager)
Olympic Games
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

William Sturrock Maxwell (21 September 1876 – 14 July 1940) was a Scottish professional footballer and amateur cricketer.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

He played for hometown club Arbroath, Dundee, Heart of Midlothian, Stoke, Sunderland, Third Lanark and Bristol City. He also gained one cap for the Scotland national team.^[1] He finished as the top scorer in the Scottish Football League Division One in the 1901–02 season,^[7] and later, while at Bristol City, he was the Second Division topscorer with 27 goals in the 1905–06 season.^[8] Maxwell later coached the Belgium national team.^[9]

Football career

Maxwell was born in Arbroath and began his career as an amateur playing for Hearts Strollers, Arbroath, Heart of Midlothian^[10] and Dundee whilst working as a solicitor's clerk. He was persuaded by Stoke manager Bill Rowley to become professional and he did so joining the Potters in the summer of 1895. Maxwell scored on his Stoke debut on the opening day of the 1895–96 season, in a 2–0 win over Bolton Wanderers.^[5] He initially had to bide his time as fellow Scottish forwards Billy Dickson and Tommy Hyslop were established in the first team. Following the departure of both Dickson and Hyslop in the summer of 1896 Maxwell became Stoke's main attacking threat and he became the clubs first prolific goalscorer. He finished up as top goalscorer for five consecutive seasons, hitting 16 in 1896–97, 11 in 1897–98, 19 in 1898–99, 11 in 1899–1900 and 16 in 1900–01.^[5] During that period he took part in the annual Home Scots v Anglo-Scots international trial on four occasions,^[11]^[12] and having scored in the March 1898 fixture^[13] he was selected to play for Scotland against England two weeks later in what would be his only full cap.^[14]

Maxwell was not a typical 1890s inside-forward as most relied on strength and power, he instead used his pace to sprint away from defenders and most of his goals came in one-on-one situations with the goalkeeper.^[5] Maxwell helped Stoke reach their first FA Cup semi-final in 1899 where he scored Stoke's only goal in a 3–1 defeat against Derby County. Maxwell was renowned for his gentlemanly conduct on the pitch but on one occasion playing against West Bromwich Albion in October 1899 he lost his temper with Albion's Abraham Jones and the pair traded blows and were both sent-off.^[5] Maxwell received a two-week suspension during with time he played in a benefit match for Sheffield United's Arthur Watson. He suffered a serious knee injury in that match and missed a further ten weeks.^[5]

With his injury Stoke decided to cash in on him, selling him to Third Lanark for £250, which turned out to be poor business as Stoke failed to find a suitable replacement and later suffered heavy financial problems. After a year back in Scotland, in which he scored 12 goals in 19 appearances (10 in Scottish Division One, the season's record total)^[7] and played for the Scottish Football League XI,^[11] he moved to Sunderland, and then to Millwall Athletic where he scored 34 goals in 54 Southern League games.^[5] His final move of his career took him to Bristol City where he enjoyed great success, scoring 27 goals in 1905–06 as the Robins won the Second Division title. He then hit 19 goals in 1906–07 as they nearly won the First Division title missing out by three points to Newcastle United.^[5]

Maxwell retired in 1909 and decided to move to Belgium to take up a coaching role with the Belgium national team.^[15]^[16]^[17]

Cricket career

Outside of football, Maxwell played a single cricket match for Staffordshire in the 1904 Minor Counties Championship against Dorset.^[18] In Staffordshires' first innings, he was dismissed for 4 runs by Hubert Greenhill, becoming one of Greenhill's 8 victims in the innings. In their second innings, he opened the batting, scoring 18 unbeaten runs.^[19]

Career statistics

Club

Source:^[20]

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		Test Matches		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Dundee^[6]	1893–94	Scottish Division One	1	1	0	0	—		1	1
Heart of Midlothian	1894–95	Scottish Division One	1	1	0	0	—		1	1
Dundee^[6]	1894–95	Scottish Division One	0	0	5	5	—		5	5
Stoke^[4]	1895–96	First Division	23	7	4	4	—		27	11
	1896–97	First Division	29	13	2	3	—		31	16
	1897–98	First Division	21	11	2	0	3	1	26	12
	1898–99	First Division	31	16	6	3	—		37	19
	1899–1900	First Division	22	11	0	0	—		22	11
	1900–01	First Division	27	16	3	0	—		30	16
	Total		153	74	17	10	3	1	173	85
Sunderland	1902–03	First Division	7	3	0	0	—		7	3
Millwall Athletic	1903–04	Southern League	29	23			—		29	23
	1904–05	Southern League	25	11			—		25	11
	Total		54	34			—		54	34
Bristol City	1905–06	Second Division	38	26	1	1	—		39	27
	1906–07	First Division	37	17	2	2	—		39	19
	1907–08	First Division	34	12	2	0	—		36	12
	1908–09	First Division	11	3	0	0	—		11	3
	Total		120	58	5	3	—		125	61
Career Total			336	171	27	18	3	1	366	190

International

Source:^[21]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Scotland	1898	1	0
Total		1	0

Honours

Player

Bristol City
- Football League Second Division: 1905–06
- Football League First Division: runner-up 1906–07

Manager

Belgium
- Olympic Gold medal: 1920^[22]
- Coupe Vanden Abeele: 1910, 1913^[23]
- Rotterdamsch Beker: 1913^[24]

KV Mechelen
- Belgian First Division runner-up: 1930–31^[25]

Cercle Brugge
- Belgian Second Division: 1937–38^[22]

References

^ ^a ^b William Maxwell at the Scottish Football Association
^ "[SFL player] William Maxwell". London Hearts Supporters' Club. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
^ "Player profile: William Maxwell". CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 June 2011.
^ ^a ^b Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Stoke City 101 Golden Greats. Desert Islands Books. 2002. ISBN 1-874287-55-4.
^ ^a ^b ^c "William Maxwell | Player Statistics | Dundee (Dee Archive)". deearchive.co.uk. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
^ ^a ^b Scotland – List of Topscorers, RSSSF
^ "English League Leading Goalscorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
^ "William Maxwell, football manager".
^ (Hearts player) Willie Maxwell, London Hearts Supporters Club
^ ^a ^b John Litster (October 2012). "A Record of pre-war Scottish League Players". Scottish Football Historian magazine. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ Football. | Anglo-Scots Trial., The Glasgow Herald, 21 March 1901
^ Football. | Scots V. Anglo-Scots., The Glasgow Herald, 24 March 1898
^ (Scotland player) William Maxwell, London Hearts Supporters Club
^ Woods, David; Leigh Edwards (1997). Bristol City FC The First 100 years. Redcliffe Press. ISBN 1-900178-26-5.
^ Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 – 1939. Tony Brown. ISBN 1-899468-67-6.
^ Woods, David (1994). Bristol Babe The First 100 years of Bristol City FC. Yore Publications. ISBN 1-874427-95-X.
^ "Minor Counties Championship Matches played by William Maxwell". CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 June 2011.
^ "Dorset v Staffordshire, 1904 Minor Counties Championship". CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 June 2011.
^ William Maxwell at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
^ "Maxwell, William". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
^ ^a ^b "The Scot who made Belgium world champions – Willie Maxwell". Scottish Sporting History. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
^ Match Report EU Football.
Match Report EU Football.
^ Match Report EU Football.
^ "Willie Sturrock Maxwell" (in Flemish). Malinwa Statistics. 18 November 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2021.