Willie Pettigrew Explained

Willie Pettigrew
Fullname:William Haddow Pettigrew
Birth Date:1953 10, df=y
Birth Place:Motherwell, Scotland
Position:Striker
Youthyears1:1970–1971
Youthclubs1:Hibernian
Youthyears2:1971–1972
Youthclubs2:East Kilbride Thistle
Years1:1972–1979
Years2:1979–1981
Years3:1981–1984
Years4:1984–1985
Years5:1985–1986
Clubs1:Motherwell
Clubs2:Dundee United
Clubs3:Hearts
Clubs4:Morton
Clubs5:Hamilton Academical
Caps1:166
Caps2:58
Caps3:68
Caps4:33
Caps5:3
Goals1:80
Goals2:21
Goals3:26
Goals4:10
Goals5:0
Totalcaps:328
Totalgoals:137
Nationalyears1:1976–1977
Nationalteam1:Scotland
Nationalcaps1:5
Nationalgoals1:2
Nationalyears2:1978
Nationalteam2:Scottish League XI[1]
Nationalcaps2:2
Nationalgoals2:1

William Haddow Pettigrew (born 2 October 1953) is a Scottish former footballer, who played as a striker for Motherwell, Dundee United, Hearts, Morton and Hamilton Academical. Pettigrew also represented Scotland and the Scottish League XI.

Club career

Pettigrew started his career with Hibernian, but left them for junior club East Kilbride Thistle after failing to make a first-team breakthrough.

He joined Motherwell in 1972, where he had his most prolific goalscoring spell, averaging better than a goal every two league games. He ended the 1975–76 season as the highest scorer in the Scottish Premier Division at the age of 22. He repeated the feat when two years later in 1977–78. In 2019 it was announced that Pettigrew was to be inducted into the Motherwell F.C. Hall of Fame.[2]

In 1979, Dundee United purchased Pettigrew for £100,000. He went on to win the 1979 Scottish League Cup Final with United, scoring two goals in a 3–0 replay win against Aberdeen. He also played in the winning 1980 Final team, but this time the goals were scored by the two strikers who were the club's first choice pairing for the next few seasons, Paul Sturrock and Davie Dodds.

In 1981, Pettigrew moved to Heart of Midlothian for a £120,000 fee, going on to achieve promotion to the Premier Division at the end of the 1982-83 season. He joined Morton in 1984 for one season, then ended his playing career the following season after playing a small number of games for Hamilton Academical.

International career

It was at Motherwell that he won five caps for Scotland, 4 in 1976 and 1 in 1977. Scotland won all five games, with Pettigrew scoring a goal in each of his first two appearances. He also played in two games for the Scottish Football League XI in 1978 that both ended in 1-1 draws, giving Pettigrew an unbeaten career as an internationalist of seven games. He scored the Scottish League goal in the second of those two games. Having debuted for Scotland aged 22, his last full cap was aged 23 and his international career at all levels was over aged 25.

Honours

Dundee United
Heart of Midlothian
Scotland

Notes and References

  1. http://www.londonhearts.com/SFL/players/williepettigrew.html (SFL player) Willie Pettigrew
  2. Web site: Willie Pettigrew to be inducted to Hall of Fame. motherwellfc.co.uk. 2 October 2019.