William Wilton

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William Wilton (born Largs, Ayrshire, June 9, 1865; died 2 May 1920) was the manager of Rangers F.C., a football club in Glasgow, Scotland, from 1899 to 1920, having previously served the club under several roles including match secretary.

Wilton had already been at Rangers for sixteen years (since September 1883) when he was given the dual-role of secretary and manager in May 1899. Before this, he was appointed secretary to the youth teams and soon rose to become match secretary of the first team in 1889.

In his 10 years as match secretary for the first team, the club won 2 Scottish Championships (1891 and 1899) and 3 Scottish Cups (1894, 1897 and 1898).

When the Scottish League was formed in 1890, Wilton became its first treasurer as Rangers shared the title with Dumbarton.

The season before he was appointed to his dual-role, Rangers had achieved the first ever 100% league record, winning all 18 games and scoring 79 goals. No team before or since has ever achieved the same, although several teams have gone unbeaten in a league season since, including Arsenal in 2004.

Under Wilton, Rangers were to win 8 league titles, making them the 2nd most successful side in Scotland behind Celtic at that time.

However, Wilton would not see the full extent of the team's success. The day after the final match of the season in 1920, he set out for a Bank Holiday, which he planned to spend at Gourock, but he died in a boating accident on the first day of his holiday.

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