William “Bill” Montgomery

William Montgomery was born in Gourock in 1885. He started his football career with Kilwinning Rangers, and Rutherglen Glencairn.

In 1905 he moved south to join second division Bradford City, where he stayed for two seasons, although never gaining a regular first team place. A move to Sunderland followed in 1907, once again he found himself in the reserves most of the time.

Then onto Oldham Athletic in 1909, where he was part of the team that saw the Lactics gain promotion to the first division. Finally he got a chance to make a name for himself, making seventy-five appearances and scoring sixteen goals.

A return to Scotland arose in 1912, when Bill signed for Glasgow Rangers. In his short spell at Ibrox he scored on his debut, and was part of the 1912-13 championship team.

Dundee manager William Wallace was pleased to announce the signing of “Monte”, who joined the club in February 1913. Greenock Morton had also been in touch with Rangers, hoping to take him to Cappielow, as had Bury and Kilmarnock.

Bill made his debut on the 8th February 1913, in a 2nd Round cup match against Thornhill, which Dundee won 5-0. He also scored his first goal for the Dens Parkers in front of 10,000 supporters.

He settled in quickly at Dens Park. However after being rushed back from injury a little too soon, in November 1914, rumours started to gain momentum that he was feeling unsettled. Another rumour was that Hibernian were keen to take him to Edinburgh. It seems he split opinion in the boardroom with some Directors stating that he was “the one forward with class and experience combined.” Whilst others thought “his clever football a shade too fine.” Unfortunately the latter half of the 1914-1915 season saw Bill dropped down to the reserves, and even those opportunities were limited.

A possible move to Kilmarnock came to nothing, as did the opportunity of a four-week trial with Ayr United, which fell through due to lack of regular employment alongside his football commitments. In the end he joined Stevenson United an Ayrshire club in the Second Division.

Willie’s final move was to Ayr United, whom he signed for on the 1^st July 1916. With restrictions on league football, which lasted for the duration of WW1, he only made twelve appearances before retiring from the sport.

Image used with kind permission of DC Thomson & B.N.A.