Will “Chippy” Naughton was a temperamental man, who was variously seen as funny, disruptive and, ultimately, certifiable. As a lad he was a driver at a coal pit but then came through Lanarkshire football to play in the Scottish League with Hibs and once for Celtic and then to have five seasons with Stoke, the last four of them in the Football League. In April 1893, he was in the Stoke side that came to play a friendly against Southampton St Mary’s and beat them 8-0. When the Saints joined the Southern League 18 months later, financial circumstances made it possible for them to pick up players from the Football League and Stoke became a special target. The “Stoke invasion”, explained in Jack Farrell’s profile came in two stages: in 1894 and 1895. Naughton was one of the 1895 re-inforcements. He would have two good seasons with the Saints,

proving to be an “inveterate practical joker,” according to the trainer, Billy Dawson who was also his landlord at 68 Cromwell Road, and a versatile forward:

almost ever-present at inside-right in 1895-96, contributing a healthy share of the goals, alongside Farrell, Will switched to outside-right the following season, and seldom missed a game as his elusive wing-play and accurate crossing contributed to the winning of the Southern League shield for the first time. He was out of favour in 1897-98, however, as Jimmy Yates arrived to commandeer the right wing, so that Will was limited to a few games at inside-right. He was not best pleased and let it be known. With the management now concerned about his temperament – he was being “disruptive”, the Board’s minutes said – his contract was paid up and he returned to Lanarkshire. After playing a little more local football, he retired in 1899. In 1904, he was of no fixed abode and was admitted by the Lanark Lunacy Board to the Kirklands Asylum in Bothwell. He was discharged after 17 months – but only to a life of vagrancy, a life soon cut short at the early age of 35.