Billy Bingham
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | William Laurence Bingham[1] | ||
Date of birth | [1] | 5 August 1931||
Place of birth | Belfast, Northern Ireland[1] | ||
Date of death | 9 June 2022[2] | (aged 90)||
Place of death | Southport, England[2] | ||
Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[1] | ||
Position(s) |
Outside-right[1] | ||
Youth career | |||
St Donard's Youth Club | |||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1948–1950 | Glentoran | 60 | (21) |
1950–1958 | Sunderland | 206 | (45) |
1958–1961 | Luton Town | 87 | (27) |
1961–1963 | Everton | 86 | (23) |
1963–1965 | Port Vale | 40 | (6) |
Total | 479 | (122) | |
International career | |||
1951–1963 | Northern Ireland | 56 | (8) |
1950 | Irish League XI | 2 | (0) |
Managerial career | |||
1965–1968 | Southport | ||
1967–1971 | Northern Ireland | ||
1968–1970 | Plymouth Argyle | ||
1970–1971 | Linfield | ||
1971–1973 | Greece | ||
1973 | AEK Athens | ||
1973–1977 | Everton | ||
1977 | PAOK | ||
1978–1979 | Mansfield Town | ||
1980–1993 | Northern Ireland | ||
1987–1988 |
Al-Nassr | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
William Laurence Bingham MBE (5 August 1931 – 9 June 2022) was a Northern Ireland international footballer and manager.
As a player, his first professional club was Glentoran, whom he played for between 1948 and 1950. Making the move to England, he then spent eight years with Sunderland, making 227 appearances. In 1958 he switched to Luton Town, making close to 100 league appearances in a three-year spell. This was followed by a two-year association with Everton, where he again went close to 100 league appearances. He finished his career after breaking his leg in a match for Port Vale in 1964, at the age of 33. He had scored 133 goals in 525 appearances in all domestic competitions. Between 1951 and 1963, he won 56 caps for Northern Ireland, scoring 10 international goals, and played at the 1958 FIFA World Cup.
His managerial career started at Southport in 1965. He was appointed manager of Northern Ireland two years later, after taking the "Sandgrounders" to promotion out of the Fourth Division. During his time as an international manager he also took charge at Plymouth Argyle, and later Linfield. He led Linfield to a quadruple in 1970–71, his only season in charge. In 1971, he was appointed the head coach of the Greece national side. Two years later he returned to the domestic game with Everton of England. He returned to Greece for a brief spell in 1977, taking the reins at PAOK. The following year he went back to England to take charge of Mansfield Town for one full season. In 1980, he was re-appointed Northern Ireland manager, his final position, and a post he would hold for the next thirteen years. He led his nation to the finals of the FIFA World Cup in 1982 and 1986.
Playing career
Club career
Glentoran
Bingham attended
"Not a natural wing talent like a Tommy Lawton, Stanley Matthews or Tom Finney, Billy Bingham had realised shortly after his arrival in English football that he would have to work hard, at both the practical and theoretical side of the game. He developed pace, strength and control to enable him to beat full-backs and deliver incisive balls into the box. He worked on his shooting from range, and his touch within the six-yard box to enable him to effectively poach goals. Above all he was brave enough to take the knocks that were inevitable with his small frame."
— Analysis of Bingham's game from the nifootball.blogspot.co.uk website.[1]
Sunderland
Bingham joined
Luton Town
The "Hatters" finished 17th in the league in 1958–59, but reached the 1959 FA Cup final after Bingham scored the winning goal in the semi-final clash with Norwich City.[1] In the Wembley final, his corner set up Dave Pacey for Luton's consolation in a 2–1 defeat to Nottingham Forest.[1] Despite Bingham scoring 16 league goals to become the club's top scorer, Luton were relegated under Syd Owen in 1959–60.[1] New manager Sam Bartram failed to keep 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 soon attracted attention from Everton and Arsenal.[1]
Everton
He joined Everton for a fee of £15,000 in October 1960.[6] Signed by Johnny Carey, Harry Catterick took charge at Goodison Park following a fifth-place finish in 1960–61.[1] A fourth-place finish followed in 1961–62, and the "Toffees" won the league title in 1962–63.[1] However, Catterick signed Scotsman Alex Scott in February 1963 for £40,000, and so Bingham's days at Merseyside were numbered.[1] During his time at Everton, he made 98 appearances and scored 26 goals.[7]
Port Vale
Bingham joined Port Vale for a then joint-club record fee of £15,000 in August 1963.[8] He scored seven goals in 38 appearances in 1963–64, as Freddie Steele's "Valiants" finished 13th in the Third Division.[8] Johnny Carey, now manager at Nottingham Forest, offered £12,000 to take Bingham back into the top-flight, but he elected to remain at Vale Park. He retired from playing after breaking his leg in a 4–0 defeat at Brentford on 5 September 1964.[8] He left for Southport on a free transfer in April 1965 to become their trainer-coach.[8]
International career
He was a Northern Ireland international, having won his first cap against France as a 19-year-old.[1] Manager Peter Doherty selected him to compete in the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden. This was after Bingham had scored against Portugal in Lisbon to help his country win a qualification place at the expense of Portugal and Italy. In the tournament itself, Northern Ireland beat Czechoslovakia and drew with West Germany, before beating Czechoslovakia again in a play-off match to advance into the quarter finals, where they lost 4–0 to France. He was awarded a total of 56 full caps, a record at the time, and also scored 10 goals, half of which were scored in British Home Championship matches against Scotland.[citation needed]
Style of play
Bingham played at
Managerial career
Southport
Bingham became a coach at Southport in June 1965, and was appointed manager at the end of the year, at the expense of Willie Cunningham.[10] He led the team to a tenth-place finish in the Fourth Division in 1965–66. In his first full season in charge, 1966–67, he led the "Sandgrounders" to promotion as runners-up – the club's first ever promotion. He departed Haig Avenue in October 1967,[10] with Southport in safe hands as they finished the 1967–68 Third Division campaign in 13th place under Don McEvoy's stewardship.
Northern Ireland, Plymouth & Linfield
He left Southport to take charge of the
Greece
Bingham took charge of the Greece national side in September 1971,[10] replacing Lakis Petropoulos. The Greeks lost 2–0 to England at the Karaiskakis Stadium on 1 December, Geoff Hurst and Martin Chivers the scorers, to ensure English qualification to Euro 1972. He left his post in February 1973 after two defeats to Spain meant Greece failed to qualify for the 1974 FIFA World Cup.[10]
AEK Athens
Immediately after his departure from Greece, Bingham took charge at AEK Athens, who were then looking for a replacement of Branko Stanković. He stayed at the club for three months before he was sacked due to the bad results that kept the club out of the spots that lead to next season's European competitions.[11]
Everton
Bingham returned to English football when he took over as manager at Everton in May 1973,[10] replacing Harry Catterick. Signing players such as Martin Dobson and Bob Latchford, he led the "Toffees" to seventh in the First Division in 1973–74, two points off a place in the UEFA Cup. Everton seemed likely to win the title again in 1974–75, but only won once in the last five games to finish a disappointing fourth, three points behind champions Derby County. In 1975–76 Everton finished eleventh, as a period of decline set in at Goodison Park. A run of eight league games without a win resulted in Bingham being sacked in January 1977;[10] the club went on to finish 1976–77 in ninth place under Gordon Lee's stewardship, and also finish as runners-up in the League Cup final and FA Cup semi-finalists.
PAOK & Mansfield
Bingham returned to Greece in April 1977,[10] taking charge at PAOK at Branko Stanković's expense. He lasted just six months in the job however,[10] before being replaced by Lakis Petropoulos, who led the club to a second-place finish in Alpha Ethniki in 1977–78. He then took charge at Mansfield Town in February 1978,[10] replacing Peter Morris. He could not prevent the "Stags" from suffering relegation 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 led Mansfield to 18th in the Third Division, before he left Field Mill in the summer.[10]
Northern Ireland (second spell)
Bingham was appointed manager of Northern Ireland for a second time in March 1980, and it would be in this second spell that his managerial career would be best remembered.
He led Northern Ireland to third in the British Home Championship in 1983, before they won the last ever edition of the tournament in 1984 with a 2–0 win over the Scots. However, Northern Ireland failed in qualifying for UEFA Euro 1984, despite winning their group games 1–0 over West Germany both at Belfast and at the Volksparkstadion. They were ten minutes away from qualification, when in the final group game, Germany's Gerhard Strack hit a winner past Albania to claim the only qualification spot in the group for the Germans; they finished ahead of Northern Ireland on goal difference.
Bingham proved that 1982 was no fluke after he led the nation to the
The retirements of O'Neill, Jennings and Whiteside (the latter due to injury) robbed Bingham of his best players. Northern Ireland failed to reach the
Bingham later served
Personal and later life
Bingham was appointed a
He was diagnosed with dementia in 2006, and died at a care home in Southport on 9 June 2022, aged 90.[9][18]
Career statistics
Club
Club | Season | Division | League | FA Cup | Other | Total | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
Glentoran[20] | 1948–49 | Irish League | ||||||||
1949–50 | Irish League | |||||||||
1950–51 | Irish League | |||||||||
Total | 60 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 60 | 21 | ||
Sunderland | 1950–51 | First Division | 13 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 4 |
1951–52 | First Division | 36 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 7 | |
1952–53 | First Division | 19 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 6 | |
1953–54 | First Division | 19 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 3 | |
1954–55 | First Division | 35 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 10 | |
1955–56 | First Division | 27 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 6 | |
1956–57 | First Division | 27 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 6 | |
1957–58 | First Division | 30 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 5 | |
Total | 206 | 45 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 227 | 47 | ||
Luton Town | 1958–59 | First Division | 36 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 14 |
1959–60 | First Division | 40 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 16 | |
1960–61 | Second Division | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3 | |
Total | 87 | 27 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 99 | 33 | ||
Everton | 1960–61 | First Division | 26 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 30 | 10 |
1961–62 | First Division | 37 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 10 | |
1962–63 | First Division | 23 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 28 | 6 | |
Total | 86 | 23 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 98 | 26 | ||
Port Vale | 1963–64 | Third Division | 35 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 38 | 7 |
1964–65 | Third Division | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
Total | 40 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 7 | ||
Career total | 479 | 122 | 42 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 527 | 134 |
International
National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
Northern Ireland | 1951 | 3 | 0 |
1952 | 4 | 0 | |
1953 | 3 | 0 | |
1954 | 3 | 1 | |
1955 | 3 | 1 | |
1956 | 3 | 0 | |
1957 | 7 | 1 | |
1958 | 10 | 0 | |
1959 | 3 | 1 | |
1960 | 4 | 1 | |
1961 | 5 | 0 | |
1962 | 4 | 2 | |
1963 | 4 | 1 | |
Total | 56 | 8 |
- Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Bingham goal.
No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 November 1954 | Glasgow, Scotland | Scotland | 2–2 | 1954–55 British Home Championship | |
2 | 8 October 1955 | Belfast, Northern Ireland | Scotland | 2–1 | 1955–56 British Home Championship | |
3 | 16 January 1957 | Lisbon, Portugal | Portugal | 1–1 | 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification | |
4 | 5 October 1957 | Belfast, Northern Ireland | Scotland | 1–1 | 1957–58 British Home Championship | |
5 | 15 October 1958 | Madrid, Spain | Spain | 2–6 | Friendly
| |
6 | 18 November 1959 | London, England | England | 1–2 | 1959–60 British Home Championship | |
7 | 6 April 1960 | Wrexham, Wales | Wales | 2–3 | 1959–60 British Home Championship | |
8 | 7 November 1962 | Glasgow, Scotland | Scotland | 1–1 | 1962–63 British Home Championship | |
9 | 28 November 1962 | Belfast, Northern Ireland | Poland | 2–0 | UEFA Euro 1964 qualifying | |
10 | 12 October 1963 | Belfast, Northern Ireland | Scotland | 2–1 | 1963–64 British Home Championship |
Managerial
Team | From | To | Record | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
Southport | 1 June 1965 | 14 February 1968 | 134 | 58 | 32 | 44 | 43.3 |
Plymouth Argyle | 14 February 1968 | 1 March 1970 | 104 | 35 | 29 | 40 | 33.7 |
Everton | 28 May 1973 | 8 January 1977 | 171 | 63 | 55 | 53 | 36.8 |
Mansfield Town | 23 February 1978 | 9 July 1979 | 71 | 21 | 24 | 26 | 29.6 |
Total[19] | 480 | 177 | 140 | 163 | 36.9 |
Awards and honours
As player
Luton Town
Everton
As manager
Southport
- Football League Fourth Division second-place promotion: 1966–67[20]
Linfield
- Ulster Cup: 1971[20]
- Gold Cup: 1971[20]
- Blaxnit Cup: 1971[20]
Northern Ireland
Al-Nassr
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab "Billy Bingham". NFIG. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
- ^ a b c "Former Northern Ireland manager Bingham dies". BBC Sport. 10 June 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
- ^ "Billy Bingham obituary: Savvy manager who shaped Northern Irish football". The Irish Times. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ "Irish League Representatives (1893-2007)". irishleaguegreats.blogspot.com. 26 September 2007. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ a b c "Billy Bingham obituary". the Guardian. 12 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ Information on former Luton players Archived 23 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Appearances and goals from Toffeweb
- ^ ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.
- ^ a b Baggaley, Michael (10 June 2022). "Tributes as former Port Vale record signing Billy Bingham dies at 90". StokeonTrentLive. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "Managers – Billy Bingham". NFIG. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
- ^ "Billy Bingham". kitrinomavro.gr. 28 May 2015.
- ^ Luney, Luney (10 June 2022). "Billy Hamilton: Billy Bingham was a manager ahead of his time". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
- ^ a b "Official Al Nassr FC site". www.fcalnassr.com. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
- ^ "Jack Charlton – Irish Soccer Manager". soccer-ireland.com. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
- ^ "Bingham delighted to help Burnley". BBC Sport. 28 May 2008. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
- ^ "No. 48639". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 1981. p. 12.
- ^ Billy Bingham Obituary, The Guardian, June 12, 2022. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
- ^ Glanville, Brian (12 June 2022). "Billy Bingham obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
- ^ a b Billy Bingham at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
- ^ a b c d e f "Managers - Billy Bingham". nifootball.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
- ^ "Billy Bingham". national-football-teams.com. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-362-00259-1. Retrieved 26 November 2022.