Billy Baxter

Who was Billy Baxter?

William Alexander "Billy" Baxter was a Scottish professional footballer.

A native of Edinburgh, Baxter joined Ipswich Town from Scottish amateur side Broxburn Athletic in 1960, and was a regular in the Ipswich team than won the old Division 2 Championship in 1960-61 and Division 1 Championship in 1961-62. He later captained the team to the old Division 2 Championship in 1967-68. In total, Baxter played 459 games for Ipswich during an 11-year stay at Portman Road. However, after a falling-out with manager Bobby Robson, he was sold to Hull City in March 1971.

After two largely unsuccessful seasons at Hull, Baxter became player-manager of Northampton Town in 1972, lasting one year in the job. He subsequently joined non-league Nuneaton Borough.

In his later years, Baxter battled cancer. He had a leg amputated sometime before his death, and succumbed to the disease at a Dunfermline hospital on 25 May 2009, aged 70.