| Willie Rankin | |
| Fullname: | William Rankin |
| Birth Date: | 1895[1] |
| Height: | 5ft 7in |
| Birth Place: | Burnbank, Scotland |
| Death Place: | South Africa |
| Position: | Inside right |
| Years1: | –1916 |
| Clubs1: | Burnbank Athletic |
| Years2: | 1916–1917 |
| Clubs2: | Parkhead Juniors |
| Years3: | 1917–1924 |
| Clubs3: | Motherwell |
| Caps3: | 230 |
| Goals3: | 54 |
| Years5: | 1924–1929 |
| Clubs5: | Cowdenbeath |
| Caps5: | 168 |
| Goals5: | 22 |
| Years6: | 1927 |
| Clubs6: | → Peebles Rovers (loan) |
| Years7: | 1929–1932 |
| Clubs7: | Clyde |
| Caps7: | 79 |
| Goals7: | 9 |
| Clubs8: | Montrose |
| Clubs9: | Benoni |
| Nationalyears1: | 1919–1923 |
| Nationalteam1: | Scottish League XI |
| Nationalcaps1: | 4 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 1 |
William Rankin was a Scottish professional football who made over 470 appearances in the Scottish Football League's top division for Motherwell, Cowdenbeath and Clyde, playing at inside right.[2] [3]
He represented the Scottish Football League XI four times[4] and played in two of the annual Home Scots v Anglo-Scots international trial matches, scoring in one,[5] [6] but this did not lead to a full cap for Scotland. In 1921 he was a member of the squad sometimes presented as 'Scotland' which toured North America, but this was organised by the Third Lanark club rather than the Scottish Football Association.[7] [8] [9]
| Season | League | Scottish Cup | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Motherwell | 1917–18[10] | Scottish Division One | 30 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 11 | |
| 1918–19 | 30 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 5 | |||
| 1919–20 | 39 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 12 | |||
| 1920–21 | 36 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 43 | 7 | |||
| 1921–22 | 36 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 39 | 8 | |||
| 1922–23 | 27 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 32 | 6 | |||
| 1923–24 | 32 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 35 | 7 | |||
| Total | 230 | 54 | 19 | 2 | 249 | 56 | |||
| Cowdenbeath | 1924–25 | Scottish Division One | 35 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 36 | 4 | |
| 1925–26 | 29 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 0 | |||
| 1926–27 | 35 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 37 | 8 | |||
| 1927–28 | 31 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 32 | 6 | |||
| 1928–29 | 38 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 40 | 7 | |||
| Total | 168 | 22 | 7 | 3 | 175 | 25 | |||
| Clyde | 1929–30 | Scottish Division One | 35 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 37 | 5 | |
| 1930–31 | 29 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 32 | 7 | |||
| 1931–32 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | |||
| Total | 79 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 84 | 12 | |||
| Career total | 477 | 85 | 31 | 8 | 508 | 93 | |||