William A. Naughton (16 July 1870 – 23 April 1906)[1] was a Scottish professional footballer, who played as an outside-forward for various clubs in Scotland and England in the 1880s and 1890s, including Celtic, Stoke and Southampton.
[2] On 26 April 1893, he was part of the Stoke team which visited the County Ground to play a friendly match against Southampton St Mary's.
Even with the future founder of football in Brazil, Charles Miller[5] playing at outside-left, the "Saints" were "outplayed fairly and squarely on every point",[6] losing 8–0.
[8] Described as an "inveterate practical joker",[2] Naughton's elusive wing play and pin-point centres to forwards Jack Farrell and Bob Buchanan, helped the "Saints" to claim the Southern League title for the first of six occasions over the next eight years.
As a result of an injury, Naughton was unavailable for the replay four days later, when he was replaced by James Spellacy, making his only first-team appearance for the Saints.