Full name Willam McInanny Carr Name Willie Carr | Playing position Role Footballer Years Team Position Midfielder | |
 | ||
Date of birth (1950-01-06) 6 January 1950 (age 65) Similar People Ernie Hunt, Dietmar Bruck, Ernie Machin, Bill Glazier, Neil Martin | ||
Coventry City Donkey Kick
William McInanny Carr (born 6 January 1950 in Glasgow) is a Scottish former footballer, who played in the Football League for Coventry City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Millwall. During his time with Coventry, Carr played in six full international matches for Scotland. He later played in non-league football for Worcester City, Willenhall Town, Maidstone United, Stafford Rangers and Stourbridge.
Contents
Interview with Geoff Palmer and Willie Carr
Career
Carr was born in Glasgow but spent part of his formative teenage years in Cambridge, where his family relocated in 1963. He is famed for the donkey kick goal scored for Coventry City against Everton in October 1970, when he took a free kick by gripping the ball between his ankles and flicking it up for Ernie Hunt to volley home. The move gained widespread fame as the match was televised on Match of the Day, and moved the authorities to ban the technique at the end of the season.
The midfielder had joined Coventry in 1967 as an apprentice and made his debut as a substitute against Arsenal that year. He remained at Highfield Road until 1975, scoring 37 goals in 292 games in all competitions for the Sky Blues. Along with Hunt and the likes of Neil Martin and Dennis Mortimer he was part of the Coventry side that achieved the club's highest ever league finish – sixth in 1970, meriting a place in the UEFA Cup the season after.
During his time with the club, he won 6 caps for Scotland, between 1970 and 1972. His international debut came on 18 April 1970 in a 1–0 win in Northern Ireland.
Carr struggled with a knee injury (suffered against Liverpool in April 1973), before moving on to Wolverhampton Wanderers for £80,000 in March 1975 and made his debut against Chelsea in the same month, scoring once in a memorable 7–1 victory. Here, he was a first-choice player and helped his new side to win the 1976–77 Second Division title and the 1980 League Cup. He finally left Wolves in Summer 1982 shortly after they were relegated from the top flight. In total, he made 289 appearances for the club, scoring 26 times.
He joined Millwall, but lasted just six months at the London club before returning to the Midlands and drifting out of the professional game. He had spells at Worcester City, Willenhall Town and Stourbridge in the non-league before calling time on his playing career in 1988.
Today, he is a rep for an engineering supplies firm in the Birmingham area.