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| William Knox |
 William Knox was born in Scotland, although his place and date of birth remain unknown to us. * The midfielder appeared for Thistle in January, 1891. He made his only known appearance on Saturday, 31st January, 1891, in a 1-0 friendly win at home to Port Glasgow Athletic. There were no goals for William in his only known appearance for Thistle. His club-list included Partick Thistle, Elswick Rangers, Newcastle West End and Victoria Wednesday. We don't know where or when William died. *
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 William played in the Partick Thistle Swifts before crossing the border and landing at the Mill Lane ground in Newcastle, home of Elswick Rangers where a number of Scots settled. At Graingerville, he became a sterling footballer, was appointed captain of Rangers and was in the defeated line-up when they reached the 1889 Northumberland Senior Cup final. His growing stature on Tyneside was such that he played for the County XI, and guested for Newcastle West End in the springtime of 1890. He had a spell back home in Glasgow after leaving Rangers towards the end of 1890, and it seems he looked in on his old mates at Inchview, finally getting a run out (at left half) in the first team on 31st January, 1891. Port Glasgow Athletic were the visitors and a tight match was played in a freezing gale. Only 2 x 20 minutes were played, perhaps to save the spectators and players from pneumonia! The only goal came from Billy Fleming (who would also play in the North East with Darlington) after a spell of sustained pressure at the start of the second half. Both sets of forwards were off form. “Inchview resembled a first class bog” reported the Scottish Referee. Perhaps it was the weather, maybe it a result of the anti-professionalism regime in Scotland, or, more likely, it was work, but William was soon back on Tyneside and turned out for Victoria Wednesday, so called because they played in the Tyneside “Wednesday” League, playing mid-week. In season 1891-92, he properly joined up with Newcastle West End and made a couple of appearances in the Northern League. He remained with the club until it folded in the summer of 1892. |
| (PJO/WS/AFK) |
Historian's note: Another Tyneside footballer with the same surname appeared for Birtley and Rendel during the era; T. Knox. Additionally, there was also a W. Knox at Linthouse in Glasgow, but this is not the same player.