Billy Bingham, the most successful manager of Northern Ireland’s football team, has died at the age of 90.
The former Northern Ireland manager was diagnosed with dementia in 2006 and he died peacefully in a nursing home in Southport on Thursday evening.
Renowned as a master tactician, the wily Bingham guided the boys in green to the 1982 and 1986 World Cup finals.
Northern Ireland were the last winners of the defunct British Championship, lifting the trophy in 1984.
Bingham also managed Everton and the Greek national team and played for Northern Ireland at the 1958 World Cup finals in Sweden.
His son David said the family were “very proud of all our dad achieved”.
“Dad was diagnosed with dementia back in 2006 and I think it is a tribute to his will that he managed another 16 years from that diagnosis to the time he passed away,” he added.
The Irish Football Association said it had learned of Bingham’s death with “great sadness”.
“Billy holds a unique place in the football hearts of Northern Ireland in that he both played at and managed in World Cup final tournaments with Northern Ireland, being part of Peter Doherty’s historic team of 1958 in Sweden and then managing Northern Ireland in the 1982 and 1986 finals,” said Northern Ireland’s football governing body. (BBC)