To paraphrase a viral tweet, football fans can literally just sit around naming old players and have the best time. So welcome to the second instalment of a new series of blogs in which we try our best to remember obscure former Leeds United players and have the best time while doing so.

After kicking things off with enemy of autocorrect Amdy Faye and the lovably profligate Caleb Ekuban, by popular request it’s time for… Will Buckley, apparently.

Will Buckley would be a good one to cover, I had completely forgotten all about him playing for Leeds until someone mentioned it in the pub last night.

— Leah (@leahjade_98) November 16, 2024

Wait… who?

Buckley came through Curzon Ashton’s academy before joining Rochdale. He spent three seasons at Spotland in League Two before a move to Watford in 2010, and from there he moved on to Brighton for £1m, a club record fee at the time.

He is the epitome of Brighton pre-Premier League. They’ve got Kaoru Mitoma and Georgi Rutter now, but it used to be all Will Buckley and Dan Harding down there before Tony Bloom spent a load of money.

Buckley became known for scoring goals from the wing thanks to his pace and ability to beat a full-back during his three years at Brighton, creating both goals in a 2-2 draw against Leeds in February 2012, and scoring the opener in a 2-1 win at Elland Road at the end of the following season in a game better remembered for El Hadji Diouf equalising then immediately getting sent off for grabbing his bollocks in front of the away end.

Back to Will — his productivity tailed off in his final season at Brighton as repetitive hamstring injuries took their toll on his fitness (and pace), but that didn’t stop Sunderland paying £2.5m for him in the summer of 2014, a week after they’d spaffed £10m on Jack Rodwell, which went famously well.

When did he play for us then?

He joined Leeds on a three-month loan deal at the start of October 2015. Buckley was available as he had not been registered in Sunderland’s Premier League squad, having missed the second half of the previous season with a knee injury. Sound familiar? Hauntingly so.

The club were reportedly in talks with him by mid-September, but couldn’t agree on wages. Again, all too familiar. Leeds owner Massimo Cellino probably offered him an eye-watering pay cut, or a deal that required him to take the job of one of the cleaners he’d sacked, as well as playing in his rather useless first team. For some reason, Buckley remained keen on the move and started training with Leeds on September 21.

Then Leeds manager Uwe Rosler said: “He brings pace, directness, goal threat and he’s a good lad.” He might have, before Leeds signed the damaged goods version.

Two weeks later, Rosler was sacked and replaced by Steve Evans, which was the style at the time.

Did he do owt?

Well, no. He made his debut at the start of October in a 2-0 loss at home to Birmingham and lasted 57 minutes before being replaced by Jordan Botaka. His next appearance came two weeks later, as a second-half substitute in Rosler’s final game in charge, a 2-1 loss at home to Brighton; a day that must have been quite ignominious for Buckley, losing to his old employees while playing for a bunch of wasters.

He came off the bench in 1-1 draws with Fulham and Bolton after new manager Steve Evans took over, but spent the final four games of his loan spell as an unused sub before being sent back to Sunderland two months early.

Buckley typified the sort of signing we made around that time. You’d heard of him because he used to play well against Leeds, but there was a reason he was available and willing to join Leeds. Was it because he was really good? We don’t need to tell you the answer. He’s proof that Leeds were signing broken toys long before Victor Orta arrived and lived out his Football Manager fantasy.

He’s not even our most famous Buckley. Shout out, Major Frank.

What should we remember him for?

Probably for something he did against Leeds, because he did sweet fuck all for us. He came, he saw, he failed to conquer the hearts of Leeds fans. I looked through WACCOE in search of some Will Buckley banter from November 2015, and nobody really seemed to be bothered enough to even give him some abuse.

His departure allowed us to sign future captain Liam Bridcutt, so that’s… something?

Has he done anything since?

Buckley joined Birmingham on loan in January 2016 and scored on his full debut against Ipswich, prompting consternation of embittered Leeds fans bemoaning that yet another ex-player had gone on to greater things elsewhere. But it was short lived. Because he was a crumbling winger with little pace or end product. He didn’t score again and joined Bolton a year later.

He had something of a late career comeback at a woeful Bolton side that succumbed to relegation in his second season there, scoring a handful of goals and prompting the following conversation twice at Elland Road:

Q: “Bloody hell, is that Will Buckley? I didn’t know he was still playing!”

A: “Who?”

After retiring aged 31 in 2020, these days he runs his own player agency, WEB Sports Management. As he told The Guardian three years ago:

“I did not have any ex-footballers as an agent and that was the only downside. I didn’t have anyone to speak to about things that were going on on the pitch – their expertise was in contracts and knowing managers. No one could help me on the pitch. I thought, there needs to be more ex-players going into it. You go through things as a player which everyone will at certain points in their careers.”

Like enduring a forgettable loan spell at Leeds United. ⬢