Billy Reeves (footballer)

William David Reeves (born 18 December 1996) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Northern Premier League Division One South East side Leek Town.

Billy Reeves
Personal information
Full name William David Reeves[1]
Date of birth (1996-12-18) 18 December 1996[2]
Place of birth Wrexham, Wales[2]
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[3]
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Leek Town
Youth career
Port Vale
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2018 Port Vale 15 (0)
2015–2016 → Witton Albion (loan) 14 (1)
2016 → Hyde United (loan) 14 (0)
2016 → Witton Albion (loan) 4 (0)
2016 → Witton Albion (loan) 2 (0)
2017 → Stafford Rangers (loan) 4 (0)
2018 Stafford Rangers
2018– Leek Town 47 (3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 00:00, 15 December 2017 (UTC)

He began his career at Port Vale in April 2015, and later went out on loan to Witton Albion, Hyde United and Stafford Rangers. He was released by Port Vale in May 2018 and joined Leek Town via Stafford Rangers later in the year.

Playing career

Port Vale

Reeves graduated through the Port Vale Academy to sign professional forms in April 2015.[4] He joined Northern Premier League Division One North side Witton Albion on a one-month loan in November 2015.[5] His loan was extended after he established himself in the first team and he went on to make 14 appearances, scoring one goal in a 5–0 win over Harrogate Railway Athletic on 2 January.[6] He then joined Hyde United on a one-month loan in February 2016.[7] He also made 14 appearances for Hyde, as the club were relegated out of the Northern Premier League Premier Division.[8]

On 16 September 2016, he returned to Witton Albion – now playing in the Northern Premier League Division One South – on a 28-day loan.[9] He returned to Witton Albion on loan in mid-November, but played just two games before being sidelined with injury.[10] He joined Stafford Rangers of the Northern Premier League Premier Division on a 28-day loan on 3 February 2017.[11] He made his EFL League One debut for Port Vale after coming on as a 47th-minute substitute for Danny Pugh in a 1–1 draw with Southend United at Roots Hall on 4 March.[12] After two further substitute appearances that month he thanked central midfield partner Sam Foley and caretaker-manager Michael Brown for helping him to adapt to League One football.[13] He went on to feature in 12 of the club's final 14 games of the 2016–17 relegation campaign, and signed a new one-year contract in May 2017.[14]

On 7 November 2017, he scored his first goal in professional football in a 4–2 victory over Crewe Alexandra in an EFL Trophy group stage match at Vale Park.[15] However he featured just eight times for the "Valiants" during the 2017–18 campaign and was not retained by new manager Neil Aspin in May 2018.[16]

Non-league

On 14 August 2018, Reeves joined Stafford Rangers on a short-term contract.[17] On 25 September 2018, he moved on to Northern Premier League Division One West club Leek Town after manager Neil Baker lost six players to injury.[18] The "Blues" reached the play-offs at the end of the 2018–19 season, but lost 2–1 to Radcliffe in the final.[19] The 2019–20 season was formally abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England, with no promotions taking place despite Leek sitting top of the Division One South East table.[20]

Style of play

The Port Vale website described Reeves as an "energetic technical midfielder".[4] Port Vale youth team coach Mick Ede said that: "he is a powerful player who is good with the ball at his feet".[21]

Statistics
Club Season Division League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Port Vale2015–16[22]League One0000000000
2016–17[23]EFL League One120000000120
2017–18[24]EFL League Two3010103[lower-alpha 1]1[lower-alpha 1]81
Total 150101031201
Witton Albion (loan)2015–16[6]Northern Premier League Division One North141000000141
Hyde United (loan)2015–16[8]Northern Premier League Premier Division140000000140
Witton Albion (loan)2016–17[6]Northern Premier League Division One South6020001[lower-alpha 2]090
Leek Town2018–19[25]Northern Premier League Division One West23100002[lower-alpha 3]0251
2019–20[25]Northern Premier League Division One South East24240103[lower-alpha 2]0322
2020–21[25]Northern Premier League Division One South East0000000000
Total 473401050573
Career total[lower-alpha 4] 9647020911045
  1. Appearances and goal/s in the EFL Trophy.
  2. Appearance/s in the FA Trophy.
  3. Appearance/s in the play-offs.
  4. Full statistics for Stafford Rangers not recorded.

References
  1. "List of players under written contract registered between 01/09/2016 and 31/09/2016" (PDF). The Football Association. p. 33. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  2. "FootballSquads - Port Vale - 2017/2018". www.footballsquads.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  3. "Port Vale FC Player Profiles". www.port-vale.co.uk. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  4. Baggaley, Mike (24 April 2015). "Lowdown on five youth players offered professional deals". The Sentinel. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  5. Baggaley, Mike (6 November 2015). "Billy Reeves joins Witton Albion". The Sentinel. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  6. "Player Bio". wittonalbionfc.89media.co.uk. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  7. "Kapend & Reeves Join Non-League Sides On Loan". port-vale.co.uk. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  8. "Player Statistics: Billy Reeves". hydeunited.com. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  9. Baggaley, Mike (16 September 2016). "Port Vale: Billy Reeves joins Witton Albion on loan". The Sentinel. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  10. Baggaley, Mike (6 January 2017). "The lowdown on Port Vale's loan deals". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  11. Broome, Dave (3 February 2017). "Stafford Rangers sign midfielder Billy Reeves from Port Vale". Staffordshire Newsletter. Archived from the original on 3 February 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  12. "Southend United 1 – 1 Port Vale". BBC Sport. 4 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  13. Baggaley, Mike (20 March 2017). "Port Vale's Billy Reeves relishing first-team chance". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  14. Baggaley, Mike (5 May 2017). "Port Vale agree new deal with Billy Reeves". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  15. Baggaley, Michael (7 November 2017). "Aspin revolution continues as Port Vale beat Crewe 4-2 in Checkatrade Trophy". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  16. "Port Vale: Neil Aspin releases 10 players from struggling League Two club". BBC Sport. 8 May 2018. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  17. "Stafford Rangers snap up youngsters Lewis Banks and Billy Reeves from Stoke City and Port Vale". Stoke-on-Trent Live. 13 August 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  18. Gordon, James. "Ex-Port Vale midfielder in for Leek - The Evo-Stik League". www.evostikleague.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  19. Scott, Richard (4 May 2019). "Leek Town boss Neil Baker: I'm proud of my players but better team won today". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  20. "Coronavirus: All football below National League to end". BBC Sport. 26 March 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  21. Baggaley, Mike (23 September 2016). "Port Vale: A look at who could be the next Nathan Smith". The Sentinel. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  22. "Games played by Billy Reeves in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  23. "Games played by Billy Reeves in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  24. "Games played by Billy Reeves in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  25. "Leek Town | Appearances | Billy Reeves | Football Web Pages". www.footballwebpages.co.uk. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
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