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Note: There has been more than one player with the same name to have played for Celtic. So please check the other namesakes if need be.
Personal
Fullname: William John McStay
aka: Willie McStay, William McStay
Born: 16 November 1961
Birthplace: Hamilton, Scotland
Signed: 3 August 1979
Left: 12 March 1987 (Hudderfield Town)
Position: Defender, Right-back
Debut: Celtic 3-0 Motherwell, League, 2 Apr 1983
Internationals: none
Biog
From Larkhall, Willie McStay, the elder brother of Paul and Raymond and part of the famous McStay family Celtic dynasty, was a Celtic ‘S’ Form signing in December 1977.
He had shown great form as an orthodox right back in a successful Celtic reserve side between 1979 and 1981 and when Danny McGrain sustained a leg injury in September 1981 it was a surprise when Billy McNeill opted to play young centre half Davie Moyes at right back as McGrain’s replacement at Willie’s expense.
A ball playing defender, Willie McStay had to wait until 2nd April 1983 to make his debut as a substitute in a 3-0 home league win over Motherwell. Without coming close to the immense passing ability of his younger brother, Willie McStay was himself still a clever user of a ball and his distribution from the back was good.
Davie Hay took over as manager in 1983 and appeared to take a shine to him, playing him as an emergency centre-half against Rangers in a 2-1 victory on 3rd September 1983. He had posed proudly before the game with brother Paul McStay for the media. On 5th November 1983, he replaced the suspended Roy Aitken as sweeper and once again had an excellent game as Celtic won 2-1 v Rangers at Ibrox.
On April 2nd 1984 he scored a memorable long range effort in a 3-0 win over Rangers, brother Paul scoring that night also, so a unique record of two brothers having scored for Celtic in the same game against Rangers too. In the 1984 Scottish Cup Final against Aberdeen, he replaced the suspended Tom McAdam at centre-half and played well despite losing controversially by 2-1.
In August 1984, he actually replaced Paul McStay at inside right against Arsenal at Parkhead in a friendly as Celtic won 3-2 but the rest of his appearances were in defensive positions. The highlight of Willie McStay’s time at Celtic came in the 1985 Scottish Cup Final against Dundee United when the Celts won 2-1. Dundee United had led 1-0 and only some valiant defending by the Celtic defence had saved the team from falling further behind before Davie Hay’s inspired substitutions saved the day.
He won a league medal in 1985-86 although he had fallen out of the first team after being controversially ordered off at Ibrox in March 1986 in a 4-4 draw after incidents involving Rangers’ Ted McMinn.
The 1986/87 season was difficult for him in that Celtic were constantly linked with expensive replacements such as Steve Clarke from St. Mirren and Joe McLaughlin from Chelsea, although neither materialised due to the parsimonious behaviour of the then Celtic board. On 10th January 1987, at centre half, he made a terrible blunder which cost Celtic the game in a 3-2 defeat. Shortly after that, Willie McStay moved on to Huddersfield Town for a fee of around £25,000.
During four seasons in the first team picture Willie McStay made 90 appearances and netted twice.
Post-Playing
In 1992, he went to Sligo Rovers in Ireland as a player/manager where he enjoyed a hugely successful reign before returning to Parkhead in a coaching capacity. Having had massive success at youth level.
He was promoted to reserve coach upon Kenny McDowall’s defection to Rangers in 2007. Willie McStay went on to manage of FC Ujpest in Hungary, after his success with the reserves and youth at Celtic. He then had stints at Ross County, Stockport County (assistant manager) and then the Carlisle based non-league Celtic Nation side in England.
Willie McStay comes from a family steeped in the Celtic traditions, and he is a wholehearted Celt himself.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES Starts (sub) |
LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1983-84 | 15 (3) | 2 (0) | 5 (0) | 1 (0) | 23 (3) |
| Goals | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 1984-85 | 11 (3) | 4 (0) | 1 (1) | 1 (0) | 17 (4) |
| Goals | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 1985-86 | 14 (4) | 1 (0) | 1(0) | 0 (0) | 16 (4) |
| Goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1986-87 | 15 (1) | 0 (0) | 4 (0) | 2 (0) | 21 (1) |
| Goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 55 (12) |
7 (0) |
11 (1) |
4 (0) |
77 (13) |
| Goals |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
Honours With Celtic
Scottish Cup
- 1984 Runners-Up
Honours (exc Celtic)
Eircom First Division Champions with Sligo Rovers
- 1993-94
Eircom First Division Shield
- 1993-94
FAI Cup
- 1994