William Hunter (footballer born 1940)

William Hunter (born 14 February 1940 in Edinburgh) was a Scottish footballer who played most of his career with Motherwell.

Club career

Hunter joined Motherwell from Edinburgh Norton in 1957. Although usually played as an inside left, he also played occasionally as a winger, and was compared favourably to Gordon Smith for his performance in that role.cite book | last = Lamming | first = Douglas | title = A Scottish Soccer Internationalists Who’s Who, 1872-1986 | format = Hardback | publisher = Hutton Press | year = 1987 | id = (ISBN 0-907033-47-4) ]

In May 1967, the Detroit Cougars paid £14,000 for his transfer and Hunter moved to the new American professional league, the NASL. His new side survived for only one year however and at the end of the 1968 NASL season, he returned to Scotland to join Hibernian. Hunter was a substitute as his new team lost the 1968-69 Scottish League Cup final to Celtic and played for the Edinburgh team until 1971.

International career

Hunter earned three caps for the Scotland national team while with Motherwell, all in 1960. He scored his only Scotland goal in his first cap in a 3-3 draw with Hungary. He also played in defeats to Turkey and Wales.

Managerial career

After four years playing in South Africa, Hunter returned to Britain as assistant manager to former Motherwell team-mate Ian St. John, a role he held for three years. He earned the opportunity to manage in his own right at Queen of the South in 1978 but left after only four months. His last involvement in football was as Inverness Caledonian's manager from 1979 to 1981.

References