No. | Player | PNE Apps | PNE Goals |
1044 | David Amoo | 24 | 1 |
40 | Frank Becton | 129 | 65 |
172 | John Carlin | 33 | 5 |
951 | Andy Carroll | 12 | 1 |
28 | Jack Drummond | 12 | 4 |
427 | Willie Fagan | 41 | 6 |
41 | John Holmes | 21 | 0 |
122 | Rabbi Howell | 65 | 1 |
668 | David Johnson | 28 | 5 |
613 | Mark Lawrenson | 80 | 2 |
876 | Erik Meijer | 9 | 0 |
942 | Neil Mellor | 149 | 43 |
513 | Gordon Milne | 90 | 3 |
716 | Brian Mooney | 151 | 25 |
272 | Archie Rawlings | 164 | 23 |
617 | Michael Robinson | 54 | 16 |
8 | Jimmy Ross | 151 | 101 |
371 | Tom Scott | 41 | 23 |
291 | Bert Shears | 2 | 0 |
532 | Peter Thompson | 146 | 31 |
1043 | John Welsh | 42 | 1 |
535 | Dave Wilson | 322 | 39 |
William 'Willie' Fagan (born 20 February 1917 in Musselburgh, Scotland.
Fagan started his career as a teenager at Celtic and moved on to Preston where he would link up with future Anfield managerial great Bill Shankly who was playing for the club at the time. Fagan’s debut was a 2-0 win at Stoke on 17 October 1936, his first goal was from the penalty spot on has fourth appearance as PNE beat Liverpool at home on 7 November. He made 29 league appearances during the 1936/37 season, his final match of that season was the FA Cup final of 1937 but the Lilywhites lost the game 3-1 to Sunderland.
Fagan made 6 appearances for PNE in 1937/38, his last being a 1-0 home defeat to Charlton on 13 September.
Liverpool manager George Kay then took Fagan where he made his debut, along with John Shafto, on 23 October 1937 in a 1-1 league draw with Leicester at Anfield. Fagan scored his first Liverpool goal a week later on 30 October in a 3-2 league win over Sunderland at Roker Park. He also scored in his next two matches against Brentford and Manchester City to make it 3 goals in 4 matches.
While playing at Liverpool, Fagan went straight into the line-up in his favoured inside-left position, although he did appear as a centre-forward for the club, he ended his initial season at the club with 8 league goals in 31 matches.
He followed this up by scoring 15 times in all competitions, one behind top scorer Berry Nieuwenhuys and missing only just three matches of the 1938–39 campaign. His first brace came in a 3-1 win over Middlesbrough on 14 September.
World War II interrupted Fagan's career for six years and it took away the majority of his best years. Willie played as a wartime guest for Aldershot, Leicester, Northampton, Newcastle, Chelsea, Millwall and Reading.
Fagan returned to Merseyside upon the conclusion of the war and played 22 (18 league) matches scoring seven goals (all league) as Liverpool won the first post-war First Division championship by the end of the 1946–47 season. He scored a brace on two occasions during the season, the first was his opening match of the season as the Reds beat Chelsea 7-4 0n 7 September 1946.
He also gained his only international recognition during World War Two when he appeared for Scotland, unfortunately these appearances are regarded as 'unofficial' internationals.
Injury made his appearances during the 1947–48 and 1948–49 seasons very irregular to make 28 league appearances in total over the two seasons. Fagan bounced back in the 1949–50 season as he helped the Reds to their very first Wembley cup final on 29 April 1950. He made 42 appearances, seven in the FA Cup, scoring 11 goals which 4 of them in the cup run. Arsenal won the final 2-0 in front of the 100,000 crowd, the second time Fagan had been on the losing side in a cup final.
Willie made just four appearances during the following campaign and three during the first half of the 1951–52 season. Fagan was allowed to leave Liverpool in January 1952. His final match was a 2-1 victory over Huddersfield on 1 September 1952. In total he had netted 58 goals in 147 appearances,
Fagan joined Northern Irish club Belfast Distillery where he played for a short time. He then headed back to England where he took on a player/manager role at Weymouth. After hanging up his boots, Fagan became a Borstal officer, an occupation he held until his retirement in 1982.
Willie Fagan died in February 1992 in Wellingborough, he was 75 years old.