Billy Reed (footballer)

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For other footballers of similar name, see Billy Reid.

Billy Reed
Personal information
Full name William George Reed
Date of birth (1928-01-25)25 January 1928
Place of birth Ynyshir, Wales
Date of death January 2003(2003-01-00) (aged 74–75)[1]
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[2]
Position(s)
Outside right
Youth career
Wattstown BC
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
194?–1947 Rhondda Transport 0 (0)
1947–1948 Cardiff City 0 (0)
1948–1953 Brighton & Hove Albion 129 (37)
1953–1958 Ipswich Town 155 (43)
1958–1959 Swansea Town 8 (0)
1959–1960 Worcester City[3] (1)
1960 Abergavenny Thursdays
1960–196? Caerau Athletic
Milford United
Ferndale Athletic
International career
1947 Wales amateur 2 (1)
1954 Wales 2 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

William George Reed (25 January 1928 – January 2003) was a Welsh professional footballer who made nearly 300 appearances in the Football League and represented his country at schoolboy, amateur and senior level.

Reed played twice for the Wales amateur team while still a teenager. He turned professional with

non-league football
.

Club career

William George Reed was born in

inside-forward position of his early career.[2] He made his Football League debut on Christmas Day 1948, filling in for Micky Kavanagh for the 1–1 draw away to Exeter City, and played in seven more matches that season, at outside left as well as outside right.[2][4] He appeared in around half of Brighton's matches over the next two seasons, but was ever-present in 1951–52, becoming the team's joint top scorer (alongside Ken Bennett) with 19 goals as Albion finished in fifth place.[2] Reed's relationship with the club was not a comfortable one, and he made several transfer requests before eventually moving to another Southern Section club, Ipswich Town, in July 1953 for a fee of £1750.[2]

In his first season, Reed scored 13 league goals and earned himself a big reputation,

hat-trick and set up a goal for a team-mate to help his side beat Walsall 5–2,[9] and finished with 12 goals from 30 league matches,[4] but the season was marred by knee problems, culminating in a cartilage operation.[10]

He missed a month early in the following season with a pulled thigh muscle,[11] but played regularly once fit, and contributed ten goals to Ipswich's second Southern Section title.[4] With moments left of that season's FA Cup third round tie at home to Fulham, Ipswich were losing 3–2 when they "launched an attack which ended with Billy Reed crashing the ball into the visitors' net", fractionally after the referee's final whistle.[12] When the visiting supporters realised the goal did not stand, they laid siege to the referee's dressing room, but he had already left the ground on police advice.[13] Reed played little in the 1957–58 Second Division season,[4] and in February 1958 he signed for Swansea Town for a £3,000 fee.[14] He made eight first-team appearances in what remained of the season, was restricted to the reserves during the next,[4][15] and was transfer-listed by Swansea in April 1959.[16]

Reed signed for Southern League club Worcester City, where he played alongside two other former international footballers, Roy Paul of Wales and Johnny Nicholls of England.[17] The following January, he returned to Wales with Abergavenny Thursdays,[18] with whom he won the Welsh League title and reached the semi-final of the 1959–60 Welsh Cup.[19][20] He then signed for divisional rivals Caerau Athletic,[21] for whom he played until at least December 1961,[22] and also played for Milford United and Ferndale Athletic.[23]

International career

Reed represented Wales at schoolboy level,

inside right for the Wales amateur team to face England at Dulwich. The Western Mail's correspondent thought he had "a big future in front of him as an inside forward".[24] He celebrated his 19th birthday with a goal as Wales came back from 2–0 down to draw the match 2–2, the first time for 18 years that the country had avoided defeat by England in an amateur international.[25] His second appearance at that level came in March in a 4–1 loss to England at Newport.[26]

In September 1954, Reed was selected to play for

centre forward soon enough were more likely explanations for Wales' 1–0 defeat.[28][29]

Later life

Reed worked for a chemicals company and as a local government officer, as well as coaching in youth football and scouting for Wales national team manager Dave Bowen.[2][23] He died in Swansea in January 2003.[1]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[4]
Club Season League FA Cup Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Cardiff City 1947–48 Second Division 0 0 0 0 0 0
Brighton & Hove Albion 1948–49 Third Division South 8 0 0 0 8 0
1949–50 Third Division South 21 1 0 0 21 1
1950–51 Third Division South 25 7 0 0 25 7
1951–52 Third Division South 46 19 1 0 47 19
1952–53 Third Division South 29 10 2 1 31 11
Total 129 37 3 1 132 38
Ipswich Town 1953–54 Third Division South 41 13 7 2 48 15
1954–55 Second Division 40 6 2 1 42 7
1955–56 Third Division South 30 12 1 0 31 12
1956–57 Third Division South 37 10 3 0 40 10
1957–58 Second Division 7 2 1 0 8 2
Total 155 43 14 3 169 46
Swansea Town 1957–58 Second Division 8 0 — 8 0
Career total 292 80 17 4 309 84

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Billy Reed". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-9521337-1-7
    .
  3. ^ "Worcester City Season 1959–1960". Worcester City FC Archive. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h "Player search: Reed, WG (Billy)". English National Football Archive. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  5. ^ a b "Five changes in Welsh team: Barnes captain". Western Mail. Cardiff. 14 September 1954. p. 9. Outside-right Billy Reed, who also gets his first cap. was given a transfer by Cardiff City and joined Brighton five seasons ago. He moved from Brighton to Ipswich and played a big part in their promotion triumph last season.
  6. ISBN 978-1-4456-1735-0
    .
  7. ^ Buchan, Charles (15 April 1954). "Ipswich lose key man. Billy Reed to miss all Easter games". News Chronicle. London. p. 10.
  8. ^ a b "International appearances by Town players (Full caps): Billy Reed". Pride of Anglia. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  9. ^ "Reed hits second half hat-trick". Daily Herald. London. 8 September 1955. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Lorenzo, Peter (7 February 1956). "Worries". Daily Herald. London. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
    "Ashcroft blow to Ipswich". Daily Herald. London. 8 March 1956. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
    Williams, Alan (31 March 1956). "Villa must really fight now. Three ahead". Birmingham Gazette. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Team news". Daily Herald. London. 15 September 1956. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
    Lorenzo, Peter (13 October 1956). "Returns. Comeback boys". Daily Herald. London. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "'Secret' win for Fulham". Shepherds Bush Gazette and West London Post. 11 January 1957. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Sewell, Albert (6 January 1957). "Row over goal as whistle goes". Sunday Dispatch. London. p. 12.
  14. ^ "Reed goes to Swansea Town". Birmingham Post. 27 February 1958. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Swansea v Forest Res". Football Post. Nottingham. 8 November 1958. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
    "Blues make Swansea struggle". Sports Argus. Birmingham. 10 January 1959. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
    "Forest Res v Swansea". Football Post. Nottingham. 14 March 1959. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Reed for transfer". Leicester Evening Mail. 15 April 1959. p. 32 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Three internationals! Worcester MUST click this time". Sports Argus. Birmingham. 22 August 1959. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Worcester 'sale'". Sports Argus. Birmingham. 23 January 1960. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Welsh Cup Season 1959/60". Welsh Football Data Archive. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  20. ^ "Abergavenny Thursdays". Football Club History Database. Richard Rundle. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  21. ^ "New player signed on by Caerau". Glamorgan Advertiser. 22 July 1960. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "City Reserves too much for Caerau". Glamorgan Advertiser. 1 December 1961. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ a b "Players of the past". Swansea City A.F.C. 30 August 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  24. ^ "Amateur soccer". Western Mail. Cardiff. 18 January 1947. p. 5.
  25. ^ Williams, David (27 January 1947). "'Birthday' goal saves Wales". Daily Herald. London. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ISBN 978-1-326-35601-9. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 28 July 2017.
  27. ^ "Billy Reed goes home". Western Mail. Cardiff. 14 September 1954. p. 9. Outside-right Billy Reed, who also gets his first cap. was given a transfer by Cardiff City and joined Brighton five seasons ago. He moved from Brighton to Ipswich and played a big part in their promotion triumph last season.
  28. ^ James, Tudor (17 October 1954). "Bright idea too late". Sunday Pictorial. London. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ "Charles switch came too late". News Chronicle. London. 18 October 1954. p. 8.

External links

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