A product of local parks’ football, Bill McPherson spent the 1908-09 season as a forward at The Dell. He was soon in the first-team, at inside-right in a Western League match at Fratton Park. Although he scored in a 4-2 defeat, the local press considered his performance to be “weak” and he spent the remainder of the season in the Reserves. That was the end of his association with the professional game but he became the manager at Thornycrofts after the First World War, as they embarked on a successful period in the Hampshire League – to say nothing of famously taking First Division Burnley to a replay in the FA Cup (see Jim Angell profile to see Thornycroft’s team photo).