Little giant from Northern Ireland
The small outside right was only 5 ft. 7 ins. tall, but when he left Glentoran for Sunderland in 1950, he “worked hard at the practical and theoretical side of the game… he developed pace, strength and control to enable him to beat full-backs.”
He stayed eight years with Sunderland, made 206 appearances for the club and scored 45 goals.
He left Sunderland for “The Hatters” — top flight Luton Town — and once again proved brave enough to take the knocks that were inevitable with his small frame. I saw him take many of those knocks. Luton was where I lived. As a boy I was a regular at Kenilworth Road, the club’s ground since 1905.
(It’s been a 10,300 all-seater stadium since 1991, and on the 24th March 2015 was officially re-named “The Prostate Cancer UK Stadium” for one day, in support of charity, and raising awareness of prostate cancer. That was the first time a Football League ground was re-named to support a charity.)
I clearly remember the distress I felt as a 15-year-old when Luton, having reached the 1959 F.A. Cup Final, were then beaten 2 — 1 by 10-man Nottingham Forest, despite Billy having scored an equaliser making it 1—1.
In his 3-year spell with Luton Town, 1958-1961, Billy scored 27 goals during his 87 appearances. I met him quite a few times at Luton’s ground during those years. He was always willing to have a chat and sign our pictures.
He won 56 caps with Northern Ireland, scored 10 international goals, managed them twice, and led them to World Cup finals in 1982 and 1986. He also managed Greece twice.
Thirty-six years after my last boyhood meeting with Billy, I met him again in a Southport pub near where he lived. We had a half-hour general chat about football, and he was very interested to hear details about my museum project, wishing it and me good luck and success.
At the time of this writing he’s 89, and going strong. Best wishes, Billy!
