Willie Stevenson

William 'Willie' Stevenson (born 26 October 1939) was a professional footballer.

Life and playing career

Born in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland Stevenson played for Edina Hearts, Dalkeith and Rangers before Bill Shankly paid £20,000 to bring him to Liverpool in the October of 1962. He made his debut in the 2-1 home league defeat to Burnley on the 3 November 1962, he scored his first goal in the 5-0 league thrashing of Leyton Orient at Anfield, Stevenson managed to hit the net in the 35th minute, Roger Hunt with a hat-trick and Ian St John scored the others.

Willie had just lost his place to Jim Baxter in the Rangers side and was just settling down in Australia when both Liverpool and Preston North End put in bids to sign him, Liverpool got their man out bidding Preston in doing so.

Stevenson helped the Reds gain the 1963/64 1st Division title in only their 2nd season back in the top flight of English football, he featured in 38 of the 42 league games thus cementing a starting role on the left of the Reds midfield.

Willie played a major role in winning of Liverpool's first ever FA Cup in 1965, he played in all of the ties and scored the all important 2nd goal from the penalty spot in the 2-0 semi-final victory over Chelsea at Villa Park. Leeds United stood in Shankly's team's way and after a hard fought 0-0 draw in 90 minutes, goals from Hunt and St John were enough to beat the Elland Road club by 2 goals to 1 and see the famous trophy go to Anfield after a 72 year wait.

The following campaign, again, saw silverware head North-West to Merseyside as the Reds took the league title once more, Stevenson missed just the 1 fixture and scored 5 times as Liverpool topped the table by a comfortable 6 points over Leeds. Willie also tasted disappointment, however, as Borussia Dortmund beat Liverpool 2-1 in the European Cup Winners Cup final at Hampden Park, the 1st European final the Anfield club had reached.

Shankly had bought the 19 year old Emlyn Hughes from Blackpool in the February of 1967 and selected him ahead of Stevenson at the beginning of the '67/68 season, this proved to be turning point in Stevenson's career, he got the nod just once in the league and 3 times in the Fairs Cup. By the December of '67 he was on his way leaving for Stoke City.

He made 97 league appearances for Stoke before he returned to Merseyside with Tranmere Rovers, he also played for South African side Hellenic before he retired.

In 1974, Willie travelled to Vancouver, British Columbia, to join the Vancouver Whitecaps in the newly formed North American Soccer League (NASL). He played in Vancouver for one season before ending his career. In 1975 he acted as assistant coach before returning to the UK in 1976.

Willie is now retired, after his retirement in spent time as a publican and then ran a contract cleaning company in Macclesfield where he still lives.

Career details

"*" Liverpool F.C (1962 - 1967) - 241 appearances, 18 goals
*2 First Division (level 1) championship winners medals (1964 and 1966)
*FA Cup winners medal (1965)
*3 Charity Shield winners medals (1964 (shared), 1965 (shared) and 1966)
*European Cup Winners Cup runners-up medal (1966)

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External links

* [http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/team/past_players/players/stevenson/ Official past players at Liverpoolfc.tv]
* [http://www.lfchistory.net/player_profile.asp?player_id=420 Player profile at LFChistory.net]