Aberdeen Football Club Heritage Trust

"Willie McAulay, inside left, is, off the field, one of the most modest of men, and on it one of the trickiest players going. It is not too much to say that it is his experience and coaching that has made such a vast improvement on the team's forward play." [Aberdeen Evening Gazette 26th November 1904]

Willie McAuley would rapidly assign himself a double distinction in the history of Aberdeen Football Club being both the club's first captain and the scorer of the first goal.
Although he would quickly surrender the captaincy to Duncan McNicol, Willie would go on to prove himself to be a useful acquisition for the club. A smart dribbler of the ball, with an accurate shot and good ball control and by the end of the 1903-04 season he led the `Whites' scoring charts with 13 goals in 20 Northern League games. His senior career had begun at Celtic, scoring on his debut against Third Lanark on 20th August 1898 in a 2-1 win for Celtic. Unfortunately, it would prove to be his only senior appearance as he was one of several promising reserve players freed in October 1898 in what was effectively a cost cutting exercise. He soon found a home at Sheffield Wednesday but failed to make the breakthrough to the first team and spent part of the season back in Scotland with Dundee. He then returned south playing for several English clubs without any great distinction.
However, on the lookout for an experienced inside left Aberdeen took the opportunity to sign him and installed him as captain of the fledgling side. It would take Willie a mere 15 minutes to write himself into the history books as the first scorer for the club, accepting a pass from Mackie he scored with a fast low shot. Despite his goal securing a point for the club the local press had yet to be impressed with the Bon Accord commenting, "we must confess he was a little disappointing. He should not be so unselfish but try one of his pot shots oftner." However, as the season progressed the local press began to take a more positive view of both Willie as a person and as a footballer pointing to his fine equable temperament and the fact that he did not lose it either on or off the field and that he played the prettiest football, bringing the ball down the field now and then in splendid fashion. In addition to his League goals Willie had also scored five goals in four games in Qualifying Cup but disappointingly Aberdeen had departed in the fourth round. In the 1904-05 season Willie would score four goals on the way to the final in which Aberdeen won the trophy beating Renton 2-0 and providing him with a Qualifying Cup winners medal. Prior to the match the Aberdeen Evening Gazette wrote pen pictures on the players and commented on Willie McAulay that, "He is, off the field, one of the most modest of men, and on it one of the trickiest players going. It is not too much to say that it is his experience and coaching that has made such a vast improvement on the team's forward play." Although his goal tally would not match that of the first season Willie was a regular starter for both the 1904-05 and 1905-06 seasons. However, for the latter the general impression was that his overall play had not come up to expectation and when an opportunity arose at the end of the season he was sold to Falkirk. There were however some local commentators who felt that the club had indeed lost a great forward.