Billy Rees

Football player infobox
playername = Billy Rees


fullname = William Rees
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date|1924|03|10
cityofbirth = Blaengarw
countryofbirth = Wales
dateofdeath = death date and age|1996|07|27|1924|03|10
height =
currentclub =
clubnumber =
position = Inside forward
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = ?-1944
1944-1949
1949-1950
1950-1956
1956-?
?-?
clubs = Caernarvon Rovers
Cardiff City
Tottenham Hotspur
Leyton Orient
Headington United
Kttering Town
caps(goals) = 00? 0(?)
101 (33)
011 0(3)
184 (58)
00? 0(?)
00? 0(?)
nationalyears = 1949-?
nationalteam = Wales
nationalcaps(goals) = 004 0(0)
pcupdate =
ntupdate =

William "Billy" Rees (born 10 March, 1924 in Blaengarw died 27 July, 1996) was a former Welsh professional footballer.

Rees had been working as a coal miner while playing amateur football for Caernarvon Rovers when he was spotted by Cardiff City manager Cyril Spiers. He made eighty-three appearances in wartime fixtures for the club, scoring seventy-four times, as well as appearaing in a wartime international for Wales against England in May 1945. With the Football League returning following the end of the war Rees became a major part of the side, helping them to promotion in the first season. He finished as top scorer the following year but at the end of the 1948-49 season his good form saw Tottenham Hotspur take him to London for £14,000, just weeks after winning the first of his four Wales caps against Northern Ireland.

Early into his Tottenham career he suffered from a number of minor injuries which caused his form to severely dip and he found himself out of the side. He was quickly sold to Leyton Orient at the end of the season for £14,500. He managed to return to form with Orient and spent six years at the club before ending his career with spells at non-league sides Headington United and Kettering Town.

Following his retiremnt from football he workd as a plant operator before later joining a pharmaceutical company based in Bridgend.

References

*Cite book
title = The Who's Who of Cardiff City
first = Dean
last = Hayes
publisher = Breedon Books
year = 2006
isbn= 1-8598-3462-0