Having failed a trial at Liverpool, Bill Luckett signed amateur forms for Everton – terms on which he remained while playing for Skelmersdale in the Liverpool and District League. Coming 24 when he signed for Southampton, he would have to wait for three-and-a-half seasons before he established himself as the first team’s hard-working left-half. In the meantime, he demonstrated his patience as a versatile as a stand-in. He soon made his debut as an outside-right, in an FA Cup defeat by the holders, and kept that place the following week, when he scored twice on his League debut.

By the end of the following season, however, he had still had only a dozen games, in five different positions.

And so it continued until the second half of the 1930-31 season, when he became a regular. Further spells at outside-left would be required of him, notably when Johnn Arnold left in February 1933, but Bill had otherwise made the left-half berth his own. Sidelined by an ankle injury half-way through the 1935-36 season, he started the 1936-37 season in that position. His first-class playing career now ground to a halt, thanks to a protracted grievance against assistant-manager John McIlwane.

Bill signed Southern League forms for Ipswich, but decided he wanted to stay. It was agreed that he could move, subject to a fee if and when Ipswich gained League status. In fact, they did not join the League until 1938, by which time Luckett was running the Salisbury Arms in Christchurch and playing in the Hampshire League for Cowes. During the War, he was a PT Instructor at RAF Ford.

It was on his recommendation that one of his trainees, Eric Day, joined Southampton. Bill came back to the club, himself, in 1946, to be a member of the backroom staff (see Ernie Jones scrapbook section), until he became a publican in 1952 at the Juniper Berry in Southampton. After managing Andover for half-a-season, he became a postmaster for a while, before he went to work at the Ordnance Survey. He turned out for the works-teams at both of these jobs and was still playing in the OS’s Sunday League side in his early sixties.