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| William Proudfoot |
 William Proudfoot was born on Saturday, 27th January, 1866, in Dunfermline, Fife. The defender signed for Thistle in August 1887, having most recently been with Westburn. Aged 21, he made his first known appearance on Monday, 15th August, 1887, in a 2-0 win at home to Western Hibernians in a Benefit match. That day, William became a member of our scoring debutant's club. He scored the last of his 9 known goals on Saturday, 5th May, 1894, in a 4-2 friendly defeat away to Clyde. He played his last known game for the club on Saturday, 3rd November, 1894, in a 3-1 friendly defeat at home to Linthouse, having clocked up at least 149 appearances for the Thistle. His club-list included Westburn, Partick Thistle, Third Lanark and Clyde. William died on Saturday, 15th March, 1924, in Glasgow, aged 58. |
 The first of the 5 Proudfoot brothers to sign up for Partick Thistle duty! He’d soon be followed by Lawrence, David, George (second eleven) and John. William joined the club from Partick Westburn in the summer of 1887 and was a mainstay for several seasons, albeit with a season break. He was renowned for his steady play and was looked upon as a safe player who could be relied upon and was duly appointed club captain in 1890. He gained representative honour when he turned out for Glasgow against East of Scotland in November 1891, a 2-2 draw at Celtic Park. There were calls for his inclusion for International trials, but these went unheeded by the selectors. By this time, William had taken up right back as his position of choice, although he could just as easily play on the left. Clyde had been after him for some time, and he was finally tempted away to Barrowfield Park for season 1892-93, where he mainly played at left-back, appearing 13 times in the prestigious Scottish Football League. He returned to Inchview for a second spell though, and played in the latter half of our first season in the brand new Scottish Football League Second Division. In this spell, he tried his hand for a run at inside left but had little success – with one very notable exception, as he played a huge part in Thistle’s all-time record League victory – a 13-1 victory over Glasgow Thistle. Our man bagged himself a hat-trick on the day, making an extra bit of Thistle history by being one of three players to score a hat trick in the same League game – an occurrence which remains unrepeated to date. For his final appearances late in 1894 he was back in his favoured right back role, and played a part in a terrific 1-0 victory over Rangers in the Glasgow Cup semi-final. Alas, it was to no avail as Rangers protested on the grounds that we had fielded an ineligible player, and the result was voided. In all, William appeared on around 150 occasions and is the leading Proudfoot in this regard, although it would be his brother John that would take the family honours for leading scorer. William is one of the super seven who contributed to all three victories against Rangers in season 1888-89. |
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