Full name William Henry Falconer Name Willie Falconer | Years Team Height 1.85 m | |
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Date of birth (1966-04-05) 5 April 1966 (age 49) Role Association football player | ||
Dundee 1-0 Dunfermline - Willie Falconer
William Henry "Willie" Falconer (born 5 April 1966 in Aberdeen) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played for a string of Scottish and English clubs from 1982 to 2003. He could play in virtually any position on the pitch, but was most commonly used as a striker.
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Career
Falconer began his career playing for his home town club, Aberdeen, in 1982. During his 6 years there, he made 77 appearances and scoring 13 goals before he moved south of the border to Watford for £300,000. During his 3 years at Watford, Willie played 71 games, scoring 12 goals. He also gained a reputation as a no-nonsense, tough tackling midfielder, and was sent off the field on more than one occasion.
In 1991, Willie moved to Middlesbrough (then managed by Lennie Lawrence) in a swap deal involving Trevor Putney moving the other way. Willie's first season at Boro was successful, with the team winning promotion from the old 2nd Division and entering the inaugural Premier League, and also reaching the semi finals of the League Cup. However, Willie's next season wasn't as happy as an ill-equipped Middlesbrough side were relegated from the Premier League. The following summer Willie was sold to Sheffield United for £400,000.
After a season with Sheffield United, Falconer was transferred back north of the border to Celtic for £350,000. Although only at Celtic for 2 years, he became somewhat of a cult hero there. His transfer also spelt the end for the Celtic board at that time, as the bank refused to pay his transfer fee. A transfer to Motherwell in 1996 was followed by a free transfer in 1998 to Dundee to strengthen the, then, newly promoted team.
After Dundee, Willie's career involved four clubs in two years, playing for Clydebank, St Johnstone and Clyde in Scotland and Grimsby in England.
In 2008, Falconer returned to Motherwell to become a coach of the under-19 side.