“I wouldn’t say that Arsenal fans were thrilled to see me join their club,” laughed Willie Young during one of our interviews at the turn of the century. “It didn’t help that I’d previously played for Tottenham, but I think that eventually I won over the supporters.”
A towering 6’3” central defender, the red-haired Young began his first-team career at Aberdeen before heading south in 1975 and spending two years playing under Terry Neill at Tottenham. During a feisty north London derby in November 1976, he was dismissed after a hefty challenge on our striker Frank Stapleton.
When former captain Neill joined us as manager in the summer of 1976, he signed Young for £80,000 the following year. The colourful and often outspoken Scot admitted that he had “a massive job on my hands to win over the Arsenal supporters”, but Willie succeeded in his task over the next five years, turning himself into an unlikely Highbury cult hero.
Here, with quotes from Willie himself, are his six standout matches as an Arsenal player:
Arsenal 4-1 Tottenham
April 11, 1977
In his first north London derby as a Gunner not long after signing, Young showed his sheer physical strength with bone-shuddering tackles on several of his former teammates. This happened after he’d returned to the pitch with a bandaged head following an aerial duel. “I think the Arsenal fans saw what I was all about that afternoon,” he smiled.
Gunners supporters, now in a jolly old mood following Malcolm Macdonald’s winner, chanted ‘Willie, Willie’ at regular intervals. Following an ignominious debut a month earlier against Ipswich Town, where a less-than-match-fit Young floundered as the visitors ran out 4-1 winners, Willie was now officially one of us.
Ipswich Town 1-0 Arsenal
May 6, 1978
“Sometimes, you’ve got to fight back from adversity,” Young said, recalling our defeat against Ipswich in the 1978 FA Cup final. The Scot took some of the blame for the defeat as following David Geddis’s low cross, Young struggled to clear and watched helplessly as Roger Osborne slotted home the winner. “There was actually little I could do with Geddis’s cross. It caught me off balance. But the defeat bonded us as a group, and we came back stronger the next season.”
Arsenal 1-0 Hajduk Split
November 1, 1978
“I always had a goal in me, or at least I thought I did!’ Young said, and he scored several important goals during his four-and-a-half years in N5. But Young’s finest goalscoring moment in our colours came in this UEFA Cup second round second leg clash. Arsenal trailed 2-1 from the away leg and seemed to be heading out of the competition, but in the 81st minute, Young latched onto a loose ball, sized up his options, and lofted a beautiful lob into the Split net from 20 yards out to give Neill’s men the aggregate win. “It was easily the best goal I ever scored,” he said.
Manchester United 2-3 Arsenal
May 12, 1979
Willie loved our do-or-die cup runs in 1978/79 and 1979/80. “Blood and thunder football, with lots of replays on muddy pitches. To me, that’s what English football in that era was all about”’ he recalled. By now, Gooners serenaded him with the chant: '6’2”, eyes of blue, Willie Young is after you.'
His finest moment came on a bleached-out Wembley pitch when after 90 minutes of aerial duelling with Joe Jordan, we came out on top in the FA Cup final - just. “We won 3-2 after leading 2-0 for 87 minutes. Astonishing. It was the greatest moment of my football life, and an amazing game to be involved in.”
Arsenal 0-1 West Ham United
May 10, 1980
Already trailing to Trevor Brooking’s header in the 1980 FA Cup final, the tired Gunners, who ended up playing 70 matches that season, struggled to make an impact. In the dying stages, West Ham forward Paul Allen burst forward towards our penalty area.
Young was closest to him. “Paul was odds on to score. I thought: 'Son, you've gotta go.' I was a defender and I defended. I tapped his foot and he went down.' Young was issued a yellow card, and the Second Division Hammers won the FA Cup. The press had their 'David v Goliath' headlines.
Arsenal 2-0 Aston Villa
May 2, 1981
“Rarely do you see both sets of fans leave a ground happy, but that's what happened when we played Aston Villa in the last match of the season.” We needed to win to qualify for the UEFA Cup, and Aston Villa - it seemed - needed to avoid defeat to win the league. Young side did their bit and took the lead through the Scot, but Villa still won the title because nearest challengers Ipswich unexpectedly lost 4-1 to Middlesbrough.
Played out in front of a capacity crowd, the entire Clock End was rammed with Villa supporters. “The atmosphere was beyond amazing,” Young recalled, “and everybody - players and fans - was jubilant at the end of the match.”
Willie left Highbury six months later and played for Nottingham Forest, Norwich City and Darlington before becoming the landlord of Bramcote Manor on the outskirts of Nottingham.
They simply don't make defenders, or players like Willie Young anymore, and Arsenal supporters of a certain age will always remember him with fondness and respect. RIP Willie.
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