Bill Green was a most inspirational leader at a time when such qualities were important in Chesterfield's history.Indeed, he was a natural leader of men, having skippered Hartlepool, his first club,  at the age of twenty and led Carlisle to a brief spell at the top of the First Division. West Ham paid £90,000 to keep him in Division One but injuries prevented the Londoners from seeing the best of him and he was allowed to join Peterborough in 1978. Chesterfield came in for him, paying £40,000

He was appointed Captain on arrival at Saltergate and was a leading reason for the club's success in '79-80.That year, the club finished fourth in Division Three, falling away at the death with Green out of the side, injured.While he occasionally looked uncomfortable on the ball, he was dominant in the air, a good organiser and did for opponents what Fred Dibnah did for factory chimneys.His most obvious quality was his complete unwillingness to suffer fools, in his own team or on the other side: legend has it that, after Terry Curran mocked him during the course of a memorable game at Hillsborough in 1980, Bill gripped him warmly by the throat in the tunnel after the game in order to offer commiserations at Chesterfield's late equaliser.

An aggressive and determined player, he was taken onto the coaching staff under Frank Barlow in November, 1980 was but freed when the 1983 financial crisis blew up. After a short spell at Doncaster Rovers he became Scunthorpe United's Assistant Manager in December, 1985 and managed The Iron between 1991 and '93.He scouted for Sunderland and later managed Buxton in the Unibond League (from October 1994) - such is a measure of the man that he worked for nothing while that club was in financial crisis.He finally left The Silverlands in March, 1996.Bill joined Bradford (Park Avenue), where his son Paul was a player, as Joint Manager in 1998 for a couple of months, and became Sheffield Wednesday's Chief Scout in July 1999.As with many of the game's genuine hard men, Bill's on-field characteristics masked a quiet and thoughtful attitude off it.Taking part in Supporters' Club quizzes gave Bill the chance to demonstrate something rare among footballers: an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the game.

Bill was appointed to the staff at Wigan Athletic in May 2005 and has supported the Latics in a number of roles, most recently as the club's European Scout.

For Chesterfield: 160 League appearances, 5 goals.