Billy Garraty
Encyclopedia
William "Billy" Garraty was a football (soccer)
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 player in the early years of professional football in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, who played for Aston Villa from Aug. 1897 - Sept. 1908. Before playing for Villa he played for Aston Shakespeare (see the official Billy Garraty website)

Garraty made his league debut for Villa during the 1897/98 season but made just one other appearance that year and remained a bit part player as Villa won the title the following year. Billy Garraty became a first team regular in the 1899/1900 season as Villa retained their title thanks to his 27 league goals which is still today, the 2nd highest total in one season for the Villains second only to the great Pongo Waring.

Garraty went on to make 224 league appearances for the Villains, scoring 96 league goals, as well as helping his side to FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

 success in the 1905 FA Cup Final with his Man of the Match display. During his time at Villa Billy was regarded as one of the great utility players of the game despite his ability to score goals. Without doubt Billy would have scored a greater number of goals for Villa had he played as an out and out striker.

In 1906 Garraty lost his place in the Villa line up and made only a handful of appearances before signing for Leicester Fosse in 1908. Garraty failed to find the net in six appearances and the Foxes suffered relegation at the end of the season.

The remainder of Garraty's league career was spent in the second division with two years at West Bromwich Albion followed by his final season before retirement in 1910/11 with Lincoln City
Lincoln City F.C.
Lincoln City Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Lincoln, Lincolnshire. The club are currently members of the Conference National in 2011–12 following relegation from the Football League....

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