Scott Billy Image 3 Brentford 1936

Description

Willington Quay, Northumberland born inside forward Billy Scott played for Howdon British Legion in 1926 before joining First Division Middlesbrough in May 1927, making his Football League debut at Bolton Wanderers in August 1930. He broke into the Middlesbrough team in September 1931 but lost his place the following January, and joined Brentford in May 1932 after 5 goals in 28 appearances for ‘Boro.

His debut season at Griffin Park saw him contribute 15 goals as Brentford won the Third Division (South) Championship, and he was ever present scoring 17 goals as they won the Second Division Championship in 1934-35, allowing the club to reach the top flight for the first time in their history. Eight of these goals were against Barnsley, with Scott scoring 5 times at Griffin Park in an 8-1 demolition in December 1934, and a hat-trick in the return fixture in a 3-3 draw in April 1935.

Such was his form in the First Division, when Brentford finished 5th and then twice in 6th place, when he was a virtual ever-present, that he was rewarded with an England cap in October 1936 when he played in a 2-1 defeat to Wales at Ninian Park. He was twice a reserve in matches over the next year but never won a further cap.

Luton Town attempted to sign Scott in March 1938, as a replacement for Joe Payne, who had just joined Chelsea, but he declined the offer. Scott played on into the early part of the 1939-40 season, when professional football was suspended due to the break-out of the Second World War. After guesting for Newcastle United, Hartlepools United and Darlington during the war, Scott returned to Brentford after hostilities ended in 1945. By now in his late 30’s, Scott made his final appearance for the Bees in a 4-1 FA Cup fourth round replay defeat to Leicester City on 3rd February 1947. Scott made 297 appearances and scored 87 goals during his time with Brentford.

Scott joined Division Three (South) side Aldershot in July 1947, making 24 appearances before retiring from League football in 1948, finishing his career with a short stint at Kent League club Dover, under player-manager and former Brentford team-mate George Poyser. He was posthumously inducted into the Brentford Hall of Fame in 2015.

NB in the photograph taken on 22nd August 1936, Scott (striped shirt) challenges for a header with an unidentified defender in Brentford’s Probables v Possibles pre season fixture.