Former Mansfield Town manager Billy Bingham dies at the age of 90

The former Northern Ireland manager was diagnosed with dementia in 2006 and died peacefully in a nursing home in Southport on Thursday evening.

Bingham took over at Field Mill in March 1978 on a three-year deal to replace Peter Morris.

But he was gone by July the following year after a dispute over a matter of principle with chairman Arthur Patrick involving the transfer of then record-signing Steven Taylor from Luton Town.

After that Bingham had a second spell as Northern Ireland boss and gave a debut to his former Stags star John McClelland, who he had signed at Mansfield, and he went on to win 53 caps.

His best moment with Stags was taking the club to the semi-finals of the Anglo-Scottish Cup.

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.

The Irish Football Association said: "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.

After leaving management, Bingham acted as Blackpool's director of football in the 1990s and then, at 76, took on a scouting role with Burnley in 2008.

His Stags record was Played:60, W:16, D:22, L:22, Percentage of games won: 26.7.