Kirton: William John (Billy)

1917-1919 (Leeds City Player Details) (Leeds City War-time Guest Player Details)

Inside Right

Born: Newcastle: 02-12-1896

Debut: v Grimsby Town (h): 27-10-1917

5’6 1/2” 11st 11lb (1919)

Educated at Todd’s Nook School North Shields, Kirton started his football career with Pandon Temperance, a well known club in local football in the Newcastle area in 1917. He was spotted by Second Division Leeds City and after having guested in one game at Inside Right against Grimsby Town in the Principal Tournament in October 1917 as soon as the Football League fixtures were due to restart he was brought to Elland Road and he signed professional forms in May 1919. He had just played his first Football League game in the Second Division at Inside Right at Molineux against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 4th October 1919, when the club was suspended by the Football League and he was one of the players to be put under the hammer in the Hotel Metropole Auction. He was duly transferred to First Division Aston Villa for £500 in October 1919, who knew they had bought a bargain. He soon became a fixture in the Villa team and went on to score fifty-three goals in two hundred and twenty-nine League appearances as well as six goals in thirty-two F.A. Cup games. He was sold to Coventry City for £1,700 in September 1928. Villa won the F.A. Cup in the 1919-20 season, beating Queens Park Rangers 2-1, Manchester United 2-1, Sunderland 1-0, Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 and Chelsea 3-1. They then beat Huddersfield Town in the Final at Stamford Bridge with Billy Kirton scoring the only goal. Kirton won his first and only international cap for England against Northern Ireland on 22nd October 1921. Kirton scored England's only goal in the 1-1 draw. Kirton, a talented inside-forward, formed a productive partnership with formerly Huddersfield Town great and vital Leeds City guest during the War years, Clem Stephenson. He did not enjoy the same success with his new club Third Division South Coventry City and failed to score in the sixteen League games that he played and left to join Non-League Kidderminster Harriers and finished his career with Leamington Town. After retiring from professional football Kirton ran a newsagent's shop in Kingstanding, Birmingham. He died at the Hartopp Nursing Home in Sutton Coldfield on 27 September 1970.