| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1879-09-21)21 September 1879 | ||
| Place of birth | Inverness, Scotland | ||
| Date of death | 1 October 1951(1951-10-01) (aged 72) | ||
| Place of death | Redcar, England | ||
| Position(s) | Left-half | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1900–1902 | Inverness Thistle | ||
| 1902–1911 | Newcastle United | 199 | (11) |
| International career | |||
| 1905–1911 | Scotland | 8 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1912–1927 | Tottenham Hotspur | ||
| 1927–1934 | Middlesbrough | ||
| 1938–1942 | Tottenham Hotspur | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Peter McWilliam (21 September 1879 – 1 October 1951) was a Scottishfootballer who played atleft-half forInverness Thistle,Newcastle United andScotland. He won every domestic trophy during his nine years with Newcastle United.
He went on to manageTottenham Hotspur on two occasions as well asMiddlesbrough. He was the longest serving manager at Tottenham (however, both his stints were interrupted by world wars, therefore he managed fewer years of normal football) and ledSpurs to anFA Cup win in1921, becoming the first man to win the competition as a player and a manager.
McWilliam was born 21 September 1879 in Argyle Street,Inverness, the fourth child of six to Peter McWilliam (1851–188?) and Jane Neish (1852–1885). His father was a grocer's porter and the family had previously moved to Inverness (where he was a neighbour of future teammate for club and country,Andy McCombie)[1][2] fromForgue,Aberdeenshire.
In 1905, while a player for Newcastle United, he married Florence Woof (1885–1970), a woman fromRedcar,Yorkshire. They moved to this locality shortly afterwards and had four children, Peter Neish, Elizabeth Jean, Florence Margaret, David John.[3] McWilliam died 1 October 1951 in Redcar and is buried in the nearbyKirkleatham cemetery.
McWilliam started his playing career atInverness Thistle and remained with them for two years[4] before starting a very successful period atNewcastle United between 1902 and 1911. He played 241 games, scoring 12 goals from the left half position.[5] He won multiple honours with Newcastle, being part of the 1904–05, 1905–06 and 1908–09Football League Championship sides and was anFA Cup Finalist in 1905, 1906 and 1908. In 1910 he won an FA Cup winner's medal.[5] He was alsocapped eight times byScotland. The football world knew him as "Peter the Great",[6] and he was hugely popular with theGeordie fans.[7][5]
He won 8 caps forScotland, which included captaining the national team.[7] However, his playing career came to an end following a serious knee injury sustained in a Home International Championship match againstWales on 7 March 1911.[8]
He managedTottenham Hotspur for two spells between which he was manager atMiddlesbrough.[9] He was first appointed manager of Tottenham on 21 December 1912, and took up his position on 1 January 1913.[8] In his first spell at Tottenham he was initially unsuccessful, and the club finished bottom of Division One the end of the1914–15 season when football was suspended due to theFirst World War. When football resumed after the war, he steered the team back to Division One, and through one of its successful periods. This included theSecond Division Title in 1920 and following promotion winning theFA Cup in 1921 a Charity Shield at the start of the next season, and runners up in theFirst Division in 1922.[8]
For the next five seasons, Spurs finished mid-table.[7] In 1927 he left Spurs to manage Middlesbrough having been enticed by an offer of a £1,500 salary per annum.[10] Although he enjoyed some success at the club over five seasons he never gained the full popularity of the fans. In 1934, he returned toLondon briefly as a chief scout forArsenal, having declined their offer to manage them.
In 1938, McWilliam returned to manage Tottenham once again, and started to rebuild the team in an attempt to lift them out of the Second Division. He promoted many younger players to the first team from the 'nursery side' atNorthfleet, includingBill Nicholson. However, his second stint at Tottenham was again interrupted by a World War, and the war effectively brought his managerial career to an end as he returned to the North-East in 1942. By the time the war ended, he decided that he would be too old to be a football manager and retired from management.[8][11]
Arthur Rowe, who was a player under McWilliam and later developed the "push and run" style of play, would credit McWilliam for learning to play a quick passing style of game that became known as the Spurs Way that found its best expression underBill Nicholson.[12] McWilliam himself learnt the possession-based football fromRobert Smyth McColl when he was at Newcastle, and this style of play can be traced further back toScottish players of the 19th century.[13]Vic Buckingham, another player who started playing under McWilliam, was also influenced by McWilliam's ideas of a possession-based game and pass-and-move style and developed it further. Buckingham would later manage both Ajax and Barcelona, and has been credited as an influence in the development of the style of play known asTotal Football.[7][13]
Tottenham Hotspur
Middlesbrough
