Billy Bingham, who has died aged 90, did more for Northern Ireland in World Cup football than any other figure, both as a lively and elusive outside-right when they reached the 1958 finals in Sweden and later as their inventive and resilient manager, taking them twice to the finals – in Spain in 1982 and in Mexico in 1986.
He was an important member of the Northern Ireland team that reached the finals of the 1958 World Cup, eliminating Italy en route. Not only did Northern Ireland become one of the smallest nations to have made the finals up to that point; they progressed to the quarter-finals in Sweden by qualifying ahead of Argentina and Czechoslovakia in the group stages.
