Beats, William Edwin ‘Billy’

Centre-forward.

Born: Wolstanton, Staffordshire, 13 November 1871; Died: Reading, 6 April 1939.

Career: Porthill Victoria, Port Vale Rovers, Burslem Port Vale 1892, WOLVES cs1895, Bristol Rovers May 03, Port Vale May 06, Reading (player/trainer) May 07, Bristol Rovers trainer, Reading trainer.

A club representative went to sign Billy Beats and on his arrival was told he was working at a chapel. Beats a builder labourer was on the roof of the chapel and the Wolves representative moved his ladder and refused to put it back until Billy had signed. The ladder was replaced and the rest is history.  A Centre-forward Billy Beats joined Wolves from Burslem Port Vale in the summer of 1895. He made his debut on 2 September 1895 and netted in a 5-1 thrashing of Burnley at Molineux. He went on to net 92 goals in 248 appearance and top scored in 1897, 1898 and 1900 equal with George Harper. His first season saw him net in each of his first three appearances and ultimately he helped the club to the FA Cup final only to lose to The Wednesday. During his time with the club he hit three hat-tricks against Small Heath in the Staffordshire Cup and Small Heath and West Bromwich Albion the Birmingham Cup. He helped the club to success in the Birmingham Cup in 1900 and 1902 and Staffordshire Cup in 1897 and 1901. Beats made just one appearance for the Reserves netting at Kidderminster Harriers on 20 December 1902. He made two appearances for England against Wales at St. James Park in March 1901 and Scotland at Aston Lower Grounds in May 1902 and five appearances for the Football League netting four goals.

He started his career with Porthill Victoria before having a stint at Port Vale Rovers before joining Burslem Port Vale in 1892.  His first still with the Vale saw him net 31 goals in 94 appearances, top score in 1894 and net two hat-tricks against Small Heath in the Football League and Wolves in the Staffordshire Cup. After leaving Wolves he joined Bristol Rovers in 1903 and went on to help them lift the Southern League Champion ship in 1905. He re-joined Port Vale in 1906 and ended the season as top scorer with 15 goals in 38 appearances. In 1907 he joined Reading as player-trainer and then had a spell at Bristol Rovers as trainer before rejoined Reading in the same role. He also played for England in the Ibrox disaster match in May 1902, a match that saw 25 fans killed after the collapse of a terrace.

Football League Appearances 309, Goals 106.

First Team

Debut: Burnley (h) 2/9/95, scored 1.

FL FAC LC Oth Tot
A S G A S G A S G A S G A S G
1895/96 26 13 6 1 32 14
1896/97 27 8 2 2 7 7 36 17
1897/98 28 11 2 1 4 34 12
1898/99 26 9 3 1 3 3 32 13
1899/00 22 9 1 5 5 28 14
1900/01 33 5 3 1 4 3 40 9
1901/02 19 8 1 3 2 23 10
1902/03 18 4 1 4 23 4
Total 199 67 19 6 30 20 248 93
Reserves

Debut: Kidderminster Harriers (a) 20/12/02, score 1.

BL SC BC Oth Tot
A S G A S G A S G A S G A S G
1902/03 1 1 1 1
Total 1 1 1 1