Player #396 for Aston Villa, William Charles Goffin, known as Billy Goffin, and nicknamed Cowboy, played as a winger for the club. Billy played for Villa between 1945-46 and 1953-54 making 173 appearances and scoring 42 goals.

Billy was born in Amington, Tamworth, just 16 miles from Villa Park on 12 December 1920 and made his professional debut for Villa in the 1945-46 FA Cup aged 24.

Villa had signed Billy from Tamworth as an amateur in August 1937 and he went on to sign professional forms with Villa in December 1937.

The breakout of World War Two and resultant suspension of league and cup football meant Billy’s professional career suffered an almost immediate hiatus. Billy did however continue to represent Villa in wartime football playing 82 ‘friendly’ games between 1940 and 1946 during which he demonstrated a scoring ability that underlined his status as a player a cut above the quality of his contemporaries.

Billy hit 52 goals across the period. In the immediate post War period a regional league was introduced for 1945-46 and two-headed FA Cup ties, this interim arrangement threw up opposition from across the leagues and Billy went on to make 24 appearances, scoring twelve times in this largely experimental season.

Billy appeared in 7 of Villa’s 8 matches of the 1456-46 FA Cup and those fixtures represented his first professional appearances for Villa.

Ostensibly an outside left on arrival, Billy featured on both wings and as an inside forward.

His speed, ball striking skills and penchant for cutting in to have a crack at goal led him to be an immediate crowd favourite.

Indeed his innate ball skills made him a natural on either wing harnessing his opportunistic style to good effect with his first rate shooting ability.

Constantly on the move and always on the lookout for possible scoring chances, Billy was a highly rated member of the squad for a number of seasons.

Ever on the go as he was, Billy, in 1949-50, adapted his game to move from the wing to inside forward and hit thirteen goals for the side.

Billy was a whole-hearted player and a fine club servant who was viewed as having, quite literally, grown up with the club.

Billy went on to score 42 goals in his 173 game professional career with Villa scoring in double figures in the 1949-50 (13) and 1951-52 (10) seasons however the period wasn’t one of trophy winning success for the club and Villa’s best returns with Billy were two 6th place finishes in the league in 1947-48 and 1951-52 and an FA Cup Quarter Final in 1952-53.

Billy played his final game for Villa on Saturday, 3 October 1953 aged 32 before moving on to Walsall.

Billy had played under Villa managers Alex Massie, George Martin and Eric Houghton.

Billy passed away in his hometown of Tamworth on 15th September 1987 aged 66.