Willie Maxwell

Willie rose to prominence during the early 1890s and after two seasons in the Gayfield first team, he began to be much sought after and had a trial with Dundee in February 1894. He stayed at Gayfield for the rest of that season but after a pre-season friendly in August 1894, Willie signed for Hearts, however he ended up back in the east played for Dundee later that year, staying with his parents in Arbroath and commuting to work as a solicitor in Dundee.

Having had trials for Scotland in 1895, Willie was persuaded to turn professional and join Stoke City in August of that year. He went on to spend six years in the Potteries before playing for Third Lanark, Sunderland, Millwall and Bristol City later in his career.

During his time as a player at Gayfield, he was noted for his 'demon dribbling' and was known as a forward who used his pace to beat the defence, as opposed to the 'regular' forward of the day who relied on his strength. Willie must have been fairly strong himself however, with it being reported in the summer of 1894 that he had won the 'cricket ball throw' in the yearly athletics meet at Gayfield with a distance of 104 yards!

Willie was a regular cricket player in the summer months (presumably a boundary fielder going by his throwing abilities!) and he appeared for Arbroath United Cricket Club both during and after his time at Gayfield, also appearing for Staffordshire in a Minor Counties match in 1904.

Upon retiring from playing football, he moved to Belgium to take up a coaching role with their national team.