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Personal
Fullname: William Cook
aka: Willie Cook, Billy Cook
Born: 20 January 1909
Died: 11 December 1992, Liverpool (England)
Birthplace: Coleraine, N Ireland
Height: 5.07½ ft
Weight: 11.04 st
Signed: 13 Feb 1930 (signed from Port Glasgow Juniors)
Left: 30 Dec 1932 (to Everton)
Position: Full-Back, Defender
Debut: Celtic 4-0 Ayr Utd, League, 20 Feb 1930
Internationals: N Ireland
International Caps: 15 Caps
International Goals: 0
Biog
Coleraine-born Willie Cook was a hard tackling full-back who signed for Celtic in February 1930 from Port Glasgow Juniors, and was the answer to Celtic’s problem of being able to replace the great Willie McStay. He was a very gifted player.
Strong, fit and with an excellent touch, Cook made an instant impact at Parkhead following his debut in a 4-0 league victory at home to Ayr United on 20th February 1930. The talented defender quickly made the right-back berth his own and he soon became a key performer for the Bhoys. He was an integral part of the 1931 Scottish Cup winning side, a side that Jimmy McGrory ranked as the best he played in.
Willie Cook won 15 caps for N Ireland, his first cap was alongside Rangers legend Sam English. Both were to play against each other for Celtic v Rangers in the ill-fated match on the day of Johnny Thomson’s fatal accident (an accidental clash with Sam English) at Ibrox in September 1932. Willie Cook was the closest player to the incident as it sadly occurred.
One of the most curious matches he played in was the 2-2 draw with Rangers in the Charity Cup final in May 1930. Despite the equal scores, the honours were awarded to Rangers on a coin toss. To lose a cup by the toss of a coin was a bitter pill indeed for the Celtic fans to have to swallow especially as Rangers had swept all in the past season. Old school football could be bizarre. Penalty kicks as a decider didn’t really become established into the game until far later in the 1960s.
However, just when it seemed Celtic had at last found a long-term successor to Willie McStay the club agreed to sell Cook to Everton in December 1932. In his own words, it was a move designed “to better my position”; it was also said to be the first time an established player had left Celtic mid-season. The move was described to be a major shock to the Celtic support who were not used to seeing their best players being sold (although looking at the club’s history, that is debatable).
He was only 23 years of age when he left, and in retrospect can be seen to have been ahead of his time where many future young players used their clubs as a stepping stone. You could also note that he left only a few months after the tragic death of John Thomson on the pitch which could also have had an impact on his decision.
It was overall a big loss to Celtic, and possibly can be taken as another indicator for the then continuing decline in Celtic’s strength as a club challenging for the title, finishing 18pts behind title winners Motherwell in 1931/32. Celtic’s last title was in 1925/26 and manager Willie Maley’s form was in decline too.
It wasn’t the last the Celtic support were to see of him. In June 1938 he faced Celtic in the Empire Exhibition Trophy final at Ibrox, a rejuvenated Celtic triumphing 1-0.
A favoured player at Everton where he made 250 appearances, Stan Bentham, an Everton team-mate of Cook’s, said of him:
“Willie Cook, right full-back, Irish international, with the ball control of any inside-forward. A hard player he could pass the ball facing his own goal, find our outside-right, which he often did.”
Post-Celtic
Willie Cook – who had made 110 appearances for the Bhoys – was a great success at Everton and added a well-deserved FA Cup winners medal to his Scottish Cup gong. It’s a sad loss that he couldn’t have been with Celtic for far longer. The 1930’s was a hit & miss period for Celtic which saw the club slide. It then heralded in the nadir of the 1940’s for the club. Losing quality players like Willie Cook is another reason for the decline.
During the Second World War, Willie Cook guested for a number of clubs across the British Isles, including Wrexham. With the resumption of competitive football with a “transition season” in 1945/46, Cook signed with the Welsh club permanently. Age was obviously catching up with him by this stage, and with league football returning in 1946 he found his only options were in non-league football. In October 1946 he took the position of player-manager at Rhyl, thus beginning a coaching career which would take him across the globe.
In 1947 Cook became coach at SK Brann Bergen in Norway, returning to briefly coach Sunderland in February 1948. He returned to Bergen from 1949-51, from 1952-1953 he was national coach of Peru, before returning home as manager of Portadown (1954-55) and as Youth team manager of Northern Ireland. He was off on his travels again, when he spent a year as manager of Iraq’s national side before he was appointed manager at Wigan Athletic in 1956, then at Crewe in 1957, and as trainer-coach at Norwich in 1958. A man well-travelled!
He was said to be quite a coach and throughout his coaching career Cook took great pleasure in demonstrating his ball skills to his players.
With one young footballer who couldn’t trap the ball properly watching, Cook is reported to have booted the ball high into the air, and as it dropped he killed it stone dead on the ground just to show the young lad how it was done. Another favourite trick was to drop a half-crown onto his toe and flick it into the top pocket of his suit. He would also regale his players with stories of his tussles with Stanley Matthews and the like.
There are few former Celtic players who have had as varied an adventure in their football lives as Willie Cook, and he will be one for anybody keenly interested in footballing history.
He passed away in 1992.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES (goals) |
LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1930-32 | 100 | 10 | n/a | n/a | 110 |
| Goals: | 0 | 0 | n/a | n/a | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish Cup