Watty Keay

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Personal information
Watty Keay
Full name	Walter Keay
Date of birth	August 1871
Place of birth	Whiteinch, Glasgow, Scotland
Date of death	16 January 1943 (age 71)
Place of death	Winchester, England
Nickname	Watty
Playing position	Inside Forward
Youth clubs
	Whiteinch
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1893-1895 1895-1900	Partick Thistle Darlington Derby County Southampton	24 0(7) 60 (22)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Walter "Watty" Keay (born Whiteinch, Scotland August 1871, died Winchester 16 January 1943) was a professional footballer, whose main claim to fame was scoring the first goal at The Dell stadium on its opening on 3 September 1898.

1 Football career
2 After retirement
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Football career

[edit] Early career

Having started his professional career at local club Partick Thistle, he moved South to Darlington to seek fame and fortune before signing for Derby County in July 1893.

[edit] Derby County

He spent two seasons with the Midlands club, supplying the crosses for Steve Bloomer, Johnny McMillan and John Goodall to score. Derby finished third in Division 1 in 1893-94, scoring 73 goals in 30 games, but in the following season they finished fifteenth and had to play-off against Liverpool, who were relegated.

[edit] Southampton

In 1895, he was enticed to join Southampton (who were then playing at the Antelope Ground) who were a major force in the Southern League.

In the next four seasons, Keay featured regularly as Southampton won the League for three consecutive seasons from 1896-97 to 1898-99. Keay was the catalyst that helped knit the forward line together and he formed a useful partnership with Joe Turner, with Keay creating the chances for Turner to convert. Following Turner's departure to Stoke in May 1898, Keay's form started to decline.

On 3 September 1898, Southampton moved to their new home at The Dell, and in the opening game against Brighton United, Keay had the honour of scoring the first goal, as Saints went on to win 4-1.

On his retirement in 1900, Southampton's grateful fans presented Keay with an inscribed pocket-watch.

In all he made 83 league and FA cup appearances for the Saints, scoring 28 goals.

[edit] After retirement

After retiring from professional football (aged 28) he remained in the Southampton area and became a local publican for several years. He later became a shipwright for Camper Nicholson at Shamrock Quay and in 1923 he also coached Southampton's reserves.

[edit] References

Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing. ISBN 0-9514862-3-3.
Gary Chalk & Duncan Holley (1987). Saints - A complete record. Breedon Books. ISBN 0-907969-22-4.