Billy McAdams

Who was Billy McAdams?

William "Billy" John McAdams was a Northern Irish footballer. McAdams played in the inside forward position. On leaving school at 15, he took an apprenticeship as a heating engineer and played as an amateur. At 17, he went to Burnley for a successful three-month trial but his father wouldn't agree to the terms offered. So he went back to Ireland where he signed professional forms for Distillery. He then played for Manchester City between 1953 and 1959 making 127 appearances and scoring 61 goals. This was in spite of not kicking a ball for two years because of a back injury which caused him to miss two FA Cup Finals.

He then signed for Bolton Wanderers who hoped he could be successor to Nat Lofthouse. In his first season with the team he scored 18 goals in 27 appearances. Don Revie brought him to Leeds but he only stayed briefly before forming part of an all-International inside forward line at Brentford for the 1962-3 season. Brentford won the 4th Division Championship with McAdams scoring 22 goals in 34 League appearances.