Willie Knox

William Jess Knox (9 September 1937 – January 2026) was a Scottish football player and manager, who played as a wing half. As a player, he appeared in the Scottish Football League for Raith Rovers and Forfar Athletic and in the Football League for Barrow. He went on to have a successful managerial career in Scottish junior football with Auchinleck Talbot, winning the Scottish Junior Cup five times, including three consecutive wins.

Playing career Willie Knox was born in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, on 9 September 1937. He played in local junior football with Annbank United before beginning his senior career with Raith Rovers in 1955. He was with Raith for three years, making 13 league appearances in the top division of the Scottish Football League and playing alongside a young Jim Baxter. He was signed for Third Lanark in 1958 by manager Bob Shankly, but made no league appearances for them. He briefly played in England, joining Barrow in 1959 and playing a single Football League match, before returning to Scottish football with Forfar Athletic, his last senior club. He left Forfar in 1963 after making 91 league appearances and scoring 4 goals, returning to junior football in his native Ayrshire with Irvine Victoria.

Managerial career Knox was manager of Auchinleck Talbot between 1977 and 1993, during which time they won 43 trophies, including the Scottish Junior Cup five times in the space of seven seasons. In the 1986 final against Pollok, Knox demonstrated his apparent lack of concern at going 2–0 down early on by calmly eating an egg sandwich on the touchline; Auchinleck went on to win the match 3–2.