17 Facts About Billy Steel

William Steel was a Scottish professional footballer who played for St Mirren, Morton, Derby County, Dundee and the Scotland national team.

One of Scotland's greatest inside forwards, Billy Steel combined a brilliant footballing brain with a busy work ethic and explosive shot.

Billy Steel was the subject of two record transfer fees during his career.

Billy Steel scored a memorable goal for a Great Britain XI against the Rest of Europe in 1947.

Billy Steel was inducted into Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2006.

Billy Steel began his career at local juvenile side Dunipace Thistle, signing for Junior side Bo'ness Cadora in the summer of 1938, whilst still 15 years of age.

Billy Steel played several games at inside-left before being developed into a winger by Cadora.

Billy Steel was brought to Derby County after playing just a few first team games for Morton and was a good buy, going on to play for three seasons at the Baseball Ground.

Billy Steel was not always popular at Derby, especially among his fellow professionals: one dressing room incident ended in Billy Steel being threatened with being hung on a cloakroom peg by a member of his own team.

Players often accused Billy Steel of saving his best performances for when the Rams travelled down to play the London teams.

Billy Steel was further disliked for his "moonlighting" ; he received payments for articles that he wrote for several newspapers, enabling him to have a more luxurious life style than his teammates.

In May 2009, Billy Steel was inducted into Dundee FC's Hall of Fame.

Billy Steel won a total of 30 caps for Scotland, scoring 12 goals.

Billy Steel had springs for muscles, a choirboy's face that masked a devouring, often ruthless determination to achieve football perfection, a caustic tongue that frequently angered team-mates more bitterly than opponents, and a style and ability that, in this modern age, would have the wealthy clubs of Europe bidding frantically for his transfer.

Billy Steel's touch was Scottish of course, but later in his career he welded to that eternal grace an iron physique.

Billy Steel belonged to the elite corp of players: the global greats.

Billy Steel's secret was that of Denis Law, an agile brain, a puma's pounce, and extraordinary gymnastic ability that put him a move ahead of his colleagues.