Willie Haines

Club career Haines was born at Warminster Common in Wiltshire and went to the local school at Sambourne where he was a member of the school football team. As a youth he played for Warminster Town before joining Frome Town in the Western League, from where he joined Portsmouth (then playing in the Football League Third Division South) in December 1922.

Haines was nicknamed "Farmers Boy" and became something of a legend at Fratton Park, where the Pompey fans would often voice their approval of his forward play with a rendition of the popular refrain "To be a farmer's boy". As a centre-forward he had a style of his own and, rather than dashing around the field, he preferred to play at a more leisurely pace. He seldom tried to strike the ball hard, but preferred to place it with "tantalising precision". Going into the final match of the season, Portsmouth and Manchester City were on the same number of points with near identical goal averages. The match between Manchester City and Bradford City had started before Portsmouth's match against Preston North End and finished 8–0. At this time, Portsmouth were also winning 4–1 but needed to score one more goal to take the runners-up spot. Haines managed to score the vital goal in the final minutes of the game, thus sending Portsmouth up by the narrowest of margins.

Southampton At Southampton, Haines joined a club which had been struggling financially and on the pitch. He linked up with his former Portsmouth colleague, Jerry Mackie, and was an immediate success. On 3 November 1928, he scored four goals in an 8–2 victory over Blackpool at The Dell – this was the first four-goal haul since the club had joined the Football League in 1920. Haines' 16 goals were a major factor in the Saints finishing fourth in the Second Division table.

Haines was a "well-built country boy" who soon became as popular at The Dell as he had been at Fratton Park. Despite his build and power, he would often take penalties without a run-up.

In the following season, Haines was injured in September and lost his place at centre-forward to Dick Rowley before returning to the side in February 1930. He marked his return by scoring five goals in the first three matches back and ended the season with 15 goals from 19 appearances. By now, manager Arthur Chadwick was forced to sell players to improve the club's finances, and Rowley had been sold to Tottenham Hotspur in February. At the time of his departure, Rowley had scored 25 goals from 25 league appearances and with him went Saints' last hopes of promotion, and they finished seventh in the table.

Haines missed the first half of the 1930–31 season because of injury, returning to the side on 27 December. Once back in the side, he embarked on a goal-scoring run with seven goals in his first four games and went on to become top scorer for the club with 15 goals from 21 appearances.

In his final season at The Dell, Haines was plagued by injuries and was only able to make three appearances, with various players including Arthur Haddleton and Johnny McIlwaine unsuccessfully trying to replace him at centre-forward before the emergence of Ted Drake from the reserves.

Haines retired in the summer of 1932, having scored a creditable 47 goals from 71 first-team appearances for the Saints.

He left Weymouth in 1937 as their all-time top goalscorer.

Frome Town Haines ended his career back at Frome Town by scoring three goals in four games for the club in 1937.

Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals

1919–20

1920–21

1921–22

1922–23

Total 62+!!76+!!2!!1!!1!!0!!65+!!77+

1922–23

1923–24

1924–25

1925-26

1926–27

1927–28

Total 164!!119!!15!!10!!0!!0!!179!!129

1928–29

1929–30

1930–31

1931–32

Total 70!!47!!1!!0!!0!!0!!71!!47

1932–33

1933–34

1934–35

1935–36

1936–37

Total 166!!225!!12!!9!!20!!20!!198!!254

1937–38

466!!470!!37!!20!!21!!20!!524!!510

Honours Portsmouth Football League Third Division South championship: 1923–24 Football League Second Division runners-up: 1926–27