Service celebrates life of Northern Ireland World Cup manager Billy Bingham

Billy Bingham has been remembered as one of football’s greatest tacticians during a service in Belfast to celebrate his life.

A number of former Northern Ireland internationals gathered with fans for the thanksgiving service at St Anne’s Cathedral.

Delivering a personal tribute, former Celtic manager Martin O’Neill recalled how Bingham took the “monumental decision” to appoint him as the first Catholic captain of Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles.

Bingham was diagnosed with dementia in 2006 and died a year ago aged 90.

As a manager he twice guided Northern Ireland to the World Cup finals, first in 1982 when they famously beat hosts Spain, and again in 1986.

Gerry Armstrong, Billy Hamilton and Jimmy Nicholl were among the other members of the 1982 team to attend the service.

Current Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill, Olympic gold medal-winning athlete Lady Mary Peters and several politicians were also among the congregation.

Martin O’Neill told the service that Bingham appointed him as captain in 1980.

He said: “This would be a big, monumental decision, the first Catholic to be in charge of Northern Ireland as a captain.

“I was very concerned about it because the Troubles were rife.

“He said to me, ‘I’ll take a bit of flak for it but that will dissipate if we win some football matches’.”

O’Neill said the decision was a sign of Bingham’s strength of character.

He added: “He was tactically as astute as any coach I’ve ever worked with.

“He would be up there today with anyone, you talk about (Pep) Guardiola, you talk about these great managers, Billy was a class apart tactically.”

Bingham’s son David told the service his father would have been “incredibly proud” of the turnout.

He added: “He would have been overjoyed, in fact.”

He compared the exploits of the Northern Ireland team in the 1980s to the Biblical story of David and Goliath.

He said: “The story of the Northern Ireland football team, particularly in the first six years of the 1980s, helped to show what happens when a story does not play out as expected.

“Against the backdrop of the Troubles, this was even more unusual at the time.

“I was wondering how best to describe the person responsible for guiding his players in these competitions, the architect of these events.

“What struck me the most was the quality of his absolute and indefatigable winning spirit.”

The memorial service was led by the Dean of Belfast, Rev Stephen Forde.

He said: “Everyone old enough to remember those (World Cup) campaigns remembers how they lifted the spirits of the Northern Ireland community during some of the darkest days of the Northern Ireland Troubles.

“Behind every hero there is an individual person of strengths and weaknesses, for even the most successful of players and managers will also know times of personal disappointment.

“Today we gather to celebrate a footballing giant in the land where giants are part of our folklore.”

Armstrong, who scored the winning goal against Spain in the 1982 World Cup, delivered a reading, as did one of Bingham’s grandsons, Patrick J Lawlor.

Music was provided by the Belfast Community Gospel Choir and pianist Ian Hannah.

Born in east Belfast, Bingham was capped 56 times as a player by Northern Ireland.

He came through the ranks of Glentoran before joining Sunderland in 1950 and going on to have spells with Luton, Everton, whom he later also managed, and Port Vale.

Bingham also played in the Northern Ireland side that reached the quarter-finals of the 1958 World Cup, only to lose to France.

He won the 1962–63 First Division title with Everton before moving into management.