Glentoran Football Club is deeply saddened to learn of the death of our former player and legendary Northern Ireland International manager Billy Bingham MBE and offer deepest condolences to his family circle and friends. Billy, who had suffered from dementia for well over a decade, died last night aged 90 in Southport.
Billy Bingham joined Sunderland from Glentoran in October 1950 and played over 200 games for the north-east club before moving to Luton Town. From there he joined Everton in 1960. Billy played in 23 games, scoring 5 goals as Harry Catterick’s side won the First Division title in the 1962-62 season. After 98 games and 26 goals he left the Merseyside club to join Port Vale where he would finish his playing career.
That playing career also saw William Laurence Bingham gain representative honours playing for the Irish League and also 56 international appearances (8 goals) for Northern Ireland. He played at the 1958 World Cup finals in Sweden where Northern Ireland lost in the quarter-finals to France.
Bingham’s managerial career began at Southport in the mid-1960s before he was appointed manager of Northern Ireland for the first time in 1967. After 3 years he returned to club football, managing Plymouth Argyle and Linfield before taking over the Greek national side. He returned to Merseyside in 1973 and managed Everton before short stints at both PAOK and Mansfield Town.
Billy Bingham, who was awarded an MBE for his services to football in 1981, is best remembered for his role managing Northern Ireland. He led the country to the World Cup finals in Spain in 1982 where once again France would end their run at the quarter final stage. The country were back at the finals again though 4 years later in Mexico but were unable to progress from the group stage. Billy was also manager when Northern Ireland won the last ever British Championship in 1982.
Billy Bingham (centre of front row)
It all began in East Belfast on 5th August 1931. Billy was a youth player with Glentoran; a youth side which included Danny and Jackie Blanchflower, Jimmy McIlroy and Billy Neill. His first team debut came in the 1948-49 campaign in a 1–1 draw with Ballymena United and he went on to record 8 appearances and 2 goals that season. The first of those came in the Irish Cup semi-final, a 2-2 draw with Portadown before the Glens progressed to the final after two replays. Unfortunately for Bingham he didn’t feature in the final defeat to Derry City.
The 1949-50 season saw Billy Bingham become a regular in the side and he netted 10 times in 39 games. He scored in the County Antrim Shield against both Ards and Distillery before winning his one and only trophy with the Glens as they defeated Linfield in the final at Solitude. He began the 1950-51 season in fine form too with 9 goals in 13 games before his transfer to Sunderland.
