‘The Northern Ireland team did a whip round for me so I could stay on at 1958 World Cup': Billy Hunter (93) recalls Swedish adventure
Billy Hunter is 93 years young. In 1958 this remarkable man travelled to Sweden as a fan to cheer on Northern Ireland at the World Cup Finals and remembers the matches like they were played last week.
As we sit and chat in his daughter Jane's house in Randalstown, I marvel at his recall as he talks about legends of that era like Harry Gregg, Danny Blanchflower, Bertie Peacock, Billy Bingham and Peter McParland.
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Belfast Telegraph
3 days ago
- Belfast Telegraph
‘The Northern Ireland team did a whip round for me so I could stay on at 1958 World Cup': Billy Hunter (93) recalls Swedish adventure
Billy Hunter is 93 years young. In 1958 this remarkable man travelled to Sweden as a fan to cheer on Northern Ireland at the World Cup Finals and remembers the matches like they were played last week. As we sit and chat in his daughter Jane's house in Randalstown, I marvel at his recall as he talks about legends of that era like Harry Gregg, Danny Blanchflower, Bertie Peacock, Billy Bingham and Peter McParland.
Glasgow Times
12-06-2025
- Glasgow Times
SFA stance on Clarke's future revealed as chief makes pyro claim
Clarke came in for renewed criticism from supporters after a 3-1 defeat to Iceland in a Hampden friendly last week. While the national team steadied the ship with a 4-0 win over minnows Liechtenstein, a record of five wins in 22 games have increased the level of scrutiny on the manager ahead of the first World Cup qualifier against Denmark in September. Read more: While Clarke himself has said that there is a 75% chance of him leaving his job after the next World Cup cycle, SFA Chief Executive Ian Maxwell claims the matter has yet to come up for discussion. "There has been no conversation, Steve wants to get us to the World Cup, and we're all just focusing on that. "It's my job to have an eye on who's out there at all times, because managers leave for a variety of different reasons at a variety of different times, sometimes when you least expect it. "So if I'm doing my job properly, there's always half an eye on who's available and we'll have that conversation with Steve as and when the time comes. But the focus has to be, we want to get to the World Cup, what do we need to do to make sure that we give everybody the best chance of doing that?" Clarke has said that qualification for the World Cup Finals in Mexico, Canada and America could persuade him to stay on beyond his current contract, due to expire next summer. Reluctant to speculate on the likelihood of a renewal, Maxwell offered his support for the current manager in the face of signs of a growing weariness with his tenure amongst supporters. "I saw something about five wins in 22 or whatever it was, but you think back to the start of the Euro qualifying campaign, we won four or five in a row, and we've qualified as one of the first teams to do so, so there's nuance to it all. "People can look at numbers, people can look at stats, and you can make them whatever you want them to make, but as I said, we need to have a broader view. "When you look back since 2019 we've gone League C, League B, League A, back-to-back Euros, it was a penalty kick that we should have got away from being the first manager to get us out of a group at the Euros. "If you'd have told everybody in 2019 that would have been the case, it would have been where do we sign? "It happens, and there's bits in between that aren't brilliant, by everybody's admission, and we're not shying away from that. You have to be broad-minded." Clubs were also told, meanwhile, of new measures to crack down on fan pyrotechnics and unruly behaviour during domestic cup games. "Everybody has to do more," added Maxwell. "We've got a Government Roundtable next week. "We're working as closely as we've ever been with the SPFL. The relationship's really good, and it's important that when we are dealing with things. "We just need to do as much as we can because there's been a lot of high-profile instances, particularly towards the end of last season, that were unacceptable."
The Herald Scotland
12-06-2025
- The Herald Scotland
Inside SFA AGM: Clarke defended amid Lennon Miller 'example'
Nothing silences dissent at a football AGM quite like a ringing cash till. Announcing a record turnover of £78.72million and a pre-tax profit of £7.41m to member clubs at yesterday's Hampden gathering Chief Executive Ian Maxwell was blunt. Read more: Reaching major tournaments is critical. And, if Scotland's quest to reach next summer's World Cup Finals gets off to a stuttering start against Denmark and Belarus the focus of the debate surrounding the manager will switch from whether the SFA can afford to sack Steve Clarke to whether they can afford to keep him. Underlining the importance of major tournaments, Maxwell said: 'You can't underestimate it. Any sporting organisation, any football club, any football association, a lot of the revenue that's driven comes from success on the pitch. That also manifests in people wanting to play, people wanting to engage with football. 'The feel-good factor that everybody still talks about from Germany is a huge part of that. We need to make sure that we keep qualifying both from a men's and a women's perspective. They're both vital. 'We've also been able to secure significant funding from the UK Government through DCMS and the Scottish Government for extra time programmes, which all goes back out either to facilities or to clubs to help run programmes and help grow and develop the game and use the power of football to have that positive impact on individuals that we know that it can. 'There's a lot of things that have combined to give us the 2024 that we had. Qualification is a big part of that.' It's better, sometimes, to travel than it is to arrive. While Scotland's men's team raced to Germany in jig-time, the engine stalled as soon as they reached their destination. Performances at Euro 2024 were anti-climactic, the final game against Hungary draining much of the credit Clarke stored up in the bank. While the team rallied for the Nations League a dismal League A play-off defeat to Greece at Hampden rendered the prospect of a World Cup qualifying rematch against the same opponents unappealing. A Scotland manager who deserves credit for raising expectations and standards over the last six years might now become a victim of his own success. In defence of Clarke Maxwell flagged up how difficult it is to be a manager in Scottish football these days. 'We've seen three managers be appointed in Scottish football in the last two or three weeks, and none of the three of them have been met with great happiness from the relevant supporters. For whatever reason people are always looking at the negatives, and I've said this for as long as I've been doing this job, we need to take a much broader view. 'When you look at the World Cup for Steve, it's the missing bit of the jigsaw, it's the bit that he's not been able to do. 'You get the back-to-back Euros, Nations League C, Nations League B, Nations League A, unfortunately we came back down to B, but in the grand scheme of things, in the football ecosystem, that's probably where we are round about that level, and there's nothing wrong with that. 'Everybody has to be somewhere, so when you look at it over a piece, the progression's been great, he's desperate to get there, the players are desperate to get there, they are absolutely more than capable of getting there, and it's about getting everybody behind them to make sure that we do that.' Weakness in key positions doesn't help. When Ciaran Slicker, Ipswich Town's third choice keeper, took to the field against Iceland his nerves spread quickly around the stadium. At the age of 42 Craig Gordon can't go on forever, while the alternative options are unappealing. A lack of central defenders, left sided attackers and strikers has shone a light on Scotland's faltering system of player development. From next week clubs in the SPFL will be free to enter into cooperation agreements which allow teams in the Premiership and Championship to send players in the 16-21 age group out in search of first team action at a partner club, with more freedom and flexibility. Figures show that young Scottish players are finding it increasingly difficult to secure first team minutes in the top flight and the consequences for the national football team are difficult to deny. 'The Transition Report talked about league size and the perception over here that young kids don't play because of league size, but actually when you look across Europe, there's a lot of kids playing in a lot of leagues that are similar sizes to us, so it's about clubs having that belief and that ability in younger players. 'Lennon Miller's a shining example, I don't know how many games he's played for Motherwell, but it's a significant number at a really young age, and he goes into a Liechtenstein game and looks like the best player on the park. 'Now, without being disrespectful to Liechtenstein, there's the opposition level that he's playing against, and I don't for a minute think that that means he's ready to go and play against Denmark, but he's a lot closer than a lot would have been, and that's a testament to him, and his family and the way they've mapped out his career just to get him games. 'And the more of those types of experiences, the more of those players we can get at those ages, that amount of experience will be really positive.'
