Billy Bingham

At 93 years old, Billy Bingham has this physical status:

William Laurence Bingham, (born 5 August 1931) is a former Northern Ireland international footballer and football manager. Glentoran, who played for between 1948 and 1950, was his first professional club as a player.

He made the move to England and spent eight years with Sunderland, making 227 appearances.

In 1958, he moved to Luton Town, making close to 100 league appearances over the course of three years.

This was followed by a two-year association with Everton, where he scored near-total appearances.

He began his career after breaking his leg in a match against Port Vale in 1964 at the age of 33.

In 525 appearances in all domestic competitions, he had scored 133 goals in 525 appearances.

He earned 56 caps for Northern Ireland, scoring 10 international goals, and appeared at the 1958 FIFA World Cup, 1950-1963. His leadership career will be as notable as his playing career.

He took over Southport in 1965 and became Northern Ireland's boss two years later after losing the "Sandgrounders" to promotion from the Fourth Division.

He was also in charge of Plymouth Argyle and later Linfield during his time as an international manager.

In 1970–71, he led Linfield to a quadruple, his first season as coach.

He was appointed as the head coach of Greece's national team in 1971.

He was back to domestic football with Everton of England two years ago.

In 1977, he returned to Greece for a brief period, taking over PAOK's control.

He returned to England in the following year to take over Mansfield Town for one year.

In 1980, he was recalled as Northern Ireland's boss, his last post, and a post he would hold for the next thirteen years.

In 1982 and 1986, he led his nation to the finals of the FIFA World Cup.

Personal and later life

In the 1981 Birthday Honours, Bingham was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to football. He was married and divorced twice before, and he had a son and daughter from his first marriage.

He was diagnosed with dementia in 2006 and died at a care home in Southport on June 20, 2022, aged 90.

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Playing career

Bingham was captain of the school's football team at Elmgrove Primary School and was also selected for Northern Ireland schoolboys. He grew up with Jackie Blanchflower in Belfast's Bloomfield neighborhood. He began his professional life with Glentoran on £6-a-week. In a 1–1 draw with Ballymena United, he made his senior debut on March 12, 1949. In 1949-to-date, the "Glens" finished second in the Irish League. Although Bingham was with Glentoran, he made two appearances for the Irish League representative team.

In October 1950, Bingham joined Sunderland for £10,000. In addition to playing competitive football at Roker Park, Bingham began his shipbuilding apprenticeship at the Sunderland shipyards. His athleticism and ball-control made him a favorite among the "Black Cats," and he eventually joined Bill Murray's first team plans in 1950–51. In 1951-52, he was the first choice outside of the United States, but Tommy Wright took his place in 1952-53. As Wright continued to hold his first team position, he made 19 appearances from 1953-54. As Sunderland finished fourth in the First Division, four points behind champions Chelsea, Bingham restored his place in 1954–55, scoring ten goals in 42 games. They also qualified for the FA Cup semi-finals at Villa Park, where they lost to Manchester City. They finished ninth in 1955-56 and then dropped out of the FA Cup in the semi-finals, this time losing 3–0 to Birmingham City. Bingham was dropped in October, and the 1956-57 campaign got off to a rocky start, and Bingham was suspended in October; he made a transfer request, but it was turned down. Alan Brown, the club's new manager, joined Amby Fogarty from Glentoran, and led the team to relegation in 1957-1958. Bingham dropped out with Brown and left the team in the summer on a £8,000 transfer to top-flight Luton Town, leaving the team in the summer. During his time in the North East, he made 227 appearances and scored 47 goals.

In 1958-1959, the "Hatters" finished 17th in the league, but they won the 1959 FA Cup Final after Bingham scored the winning goal in the semi-final match against Norwich City. Luton's consolation in a 2–1 loss to Nottingham Forest prompted Dave Pacey's consolation. Despite Bingham's 16 league goals to become the club's top scorer, Luton was relegated under Syd Owen in 1959-60. Sam Bartram struggled to hold Bingham at Kenilworth Road for long, and after three goals in 11 Second Division games, including a 35-yard volley against Liverpool at Anfield, he drew notice from Everton and Arsenal.

In October 1960, he joined Everton for £15,000. Following a fifth-place finish in 1960–61, signed by Johnny Carey and Harry Catterick took over at Goodison Park. In 1961–62, a fourth-place finish was followed, and the "Toffees" took the league championship in 1962–63. However, Catterick brought Scot Alex Scott to the UK in February 1963 for £40,000, and Bingham's days in Merseyside were limited. He made 98 appearances and scored 26 goals during his time at Everton.

In August 1963, Bingham joined Port Vale for a then joint-club record fee of £15,000. In 1963–64, he scored seven goals in 38 appearances, as Freddie Steele's "Valuants" finished 13th in the Third Division. Johnny Carey, the current Nottingham Forest manager, wanted to bring Bingham back to the top of the charts, but he stayed at Vale Park. In a 4–0 loss at Brentford on September 5, 1964, he was barred from playing after breaking his leg. He went to Southport on a free transfer in April 1965 to become the trainer-coach.

He had won his first cap against France as a 19-year-old, and was a Northern Ireland international. Peter Doherty, the boss of Sweden's 1958 FIFA World Cup, selected him to participate in the 1958 FIFA World Cup. This was after Bingham scored against Portugal in Lisbon to help his team win a qualification spot at the expense of Portugal and Italy. Northern Ireland defeated Czechoslovakia and drew with West Germany before defeating Czechoslovakia in a play-off match that resulted in a 4–0 loss to France in the tournament itself. He was granted a total of 56 full caps, a record at the time, and he also scored 10 goals, half of which were scored in British Home Championship matches against Scotland.

Bingham played at the top of the charts and had great leadership and positional abilities as well as solid scoring skills.

Managerial career

In June 1965, Bingham became a coach at Southport and was promoted to manager at the end of the year, at the expense of Willie Cunningham. In 1965–66, he led the team to a tenth-place finish in the Fourth Division. He led the "Sandgrounders" to promotion as runners-up in his first full season in charge, 1966-67. In October 1967, he left Haig Avenue, with Southport in safe hands as they ended the 1967–68 Third Division campaign in 13th place under Don McEvoy's leadership.

In October 1967, he moved from Southport to lead the Northern Ireland national team. However, the position was not taxing one, and Bingham took over Plymouth Argyle in February 1968, replacing Derek Ufton. Since the "Pilgrims" finished bottom of the Second Division, he was unable to push the team away from relegation. In 1968–69, he led the club to fifth place in the third tier, only 15 points behind second place Swindon Town. Following a struggle against relegation in 1969–70, and Bingham departed Home Park in March 1970; the club went on to finish 17th under Ellis Stuttard's leadership. He took over Linfield, Northern Ireland's biggest club, in August 1970. His one season at Windsor Park was highly fruitful, with the "Blues" winning the 1970–71 Irish League crown, three points ahead of rivals Glentoran. In the form of the Ulster Cup, Gold Cup, and Blaxnit Cup, the club also won a treble of trophies. In May 1971, he stood down as "Norn Iron" boss, and left Linfield as well in August. Northern Ireland played 20 games, winning eight, drawing three times, and losing nine games during his time as coach of the national team. After losing to the Soviet Union in Moscow, they missed out on qualifying to the 1970 FIFA World Cup. They came in third in 1969, fourth in 1970, and second in 1971.

In September 1971, Bingham took over the Greek national side, replacing Lakis Petropoulos. On December 1st, the Greeks lost 2–0 to England at the Karaiskakis Stadium, with Geoff Hurst and Martin Chivers scoring. He resigned in February 1973 after two setbacks to Spain meant Greece did not qualify for the 1974 FIFA World Cup.

Bingham took over at AEK Athens, who were then looking for a replacement for Branko Stankovi, immediately after his departure from Greece. He played for three months before being fired due to poor results that kept the club out of the playoff spots for next season.

In May 1973, Bingham returned to English football as boss at Everton, replacing Harry Catterick. In the First Division from 1973–74, signing players such as Martin Dobson and Bob Latchford helped the "Toffees" to seventh, two points off a spot in the UEFA Cup. Everton was expected to win the title in 1974-75, but they lost just once in the last five games to finish third, three points behind champions Derby County. Everton finished 11th in 1975-76 as a result of stagnation that began in Goodison Park. Bingham was fired in January 1977 after a string of eight league games without a win; the team went on to finish 1976-77 in ninth place under Gordon Lee's leadership, and also finish runners-up in the League Cup final and FA Cup semi-finalists.

In April 1977, Bingham returned to Greece, taking over PAOK at Branko Stankovi's expense. He spent six months in the role before being fired by Lakis Petropoulos, who led the team to a second-place finish in Alpha Ethniki in 1977–78. He took over Mansfield Town in February 1978, replacing Peter Morris. He could not keep the "Stags" from being relegated out of the Second Division at the end of 1977–78. The 1978–79 season would be his last as a club manager, and he steered Mansfield to 18th in the Third Division before he left Field Mill in the summer.

In March 1980, Bingham was appointed manager of Northern Ireland for the second time, and it will be in this second period that his managerial career will be most remembered. In 1980, he led the nation to victory in the British Home Championship, just the country's second straight victory in 96 years, after losing both Scotland and Wales, but England held England to a draw. However, they only existed at a time in 1982. After qualifying, he and Scotland defeated Sweden, Portugal, and Israel, who led Northern Ireland to the 1982 FIFA World Cup. Despite a limited team featuring just a few key world class players (goalkeeper Pat Jennings, captain Martin O'Neill, and 17-year-old Norman Whiteside), Bingham's team stunned Spain, defeating the host country, Spain, 11-0. With only two goals from Gerry Armstrong, they stunned the world by finishing ranked third in their group. They were disqualified in the second round after a 2–2 draw with Austria and a 4–1 loss to France.

He helped Northern Ireland defeat the Scots in the third round of the British Home Championship in 1983, defeating them 2–0. Northern Ireland, on the other hand, failed in qualifying for UEFA Euro 1984, defeating West Germany 1–0 both in Belfast and at the Volksparkstadion. They were ten minutes away from qualifying when Gerhard Strack of Germany won the final group game against Albania to claim the only qualification spot for the Germans; they came first ahead of Northern Ireland on goal difference.

Since leading the nation to the 1986 FIFA World Cup, Bingham proved that 1982 was no fluke. They qualified, as well as England, after winning second place in their group over Romania, Finland, and Turkey. They faced an insurmountable challenge in Brazil and Spain, but they left the tournament with just a point against Algeria. During the 1987–88 season, he coached Al-Nassr in the Saudi Professional League, leading the team to their fifth Kings Cup title in 1987.

O'Neill, Jennings, and Whiteside's retirements (the latter due to injury) robbed Bingham of his best players. Northern Ireland's 1990 and 1994 champions failed to qualify, and 1994's he resigned in November 1993. The last game of the 1994 World Cup qualification campaign was against the Republic of Ireland, and sectarianism and infighting were likely to be marred by sectarianism and confusion. The Bingham boys set out to deny the Irish the opportunity they needed to obtain qualification ahead of Denmark, although Northern Ireland was unable to qualify. Jimmy Quinn's strike was called off by a late Irish equalizer, and after the game, Bingham and Ireland boss Jack Charlton had a tense discussion. Both 1990 and 1994 qualification groups concluded with Spain and the Republic qualifying, with Northern Ireland finishing some distance behind the time.

Bingham later worked as director of football for Blackpool. He came out of retirement in May 2008 to become a Burnley talent spotter.

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