Billy Stark

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Billy Stark
Personal information
Full name	William Stark
Date of birth	December 1, 1956 (1956-12-01) (age 51)
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Playing position	Midfielder (retired)
Club information
Current club	Scotland under-21 (manager)
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1975-1983 1983-1987 1987-1990 1990-1992 1992-1993 1993-1994	St Mirren Aberdeen Celtic Kilmarnock Hamilton Academical Kilmarnock	255 (60) 109 (41) 064 (17) 022 0(6) 014 0(0) 036 0(3)
Teams managed
1994-1997 1997-2000 2001-2004 2004-2008 2008-present	Celtic (Assistant Manager) Greenock Morton St. Johnstone Queen's Park Scotland under-21
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Billy Stark (born December 1, 1956) is a former Scottish footballer and current Scottish youth teams national coach.

Born in Glasgow, Stark made his professional debut in 1975 in nearby Paisley for St. Mirren. Two years later he won his first honour, a First Division Championship medal. After 255 games for St. Mirren, scoring 60 goals, he was signed by Aberdeen for £80,000. During a period of success for the side, he helped Aberdeen to win a European Super Cup in 1983, a Premier League and Scottish Cup in 1984, another league title the following year and a League Cup and Scottish Cup Double in 1986.

In 1987 Billy McNeill signed Stark to play in Celtic's midfield for a £100,000 fee. In three seasons with the club he won two further Scottish Cups and a League Cup, before leaving for Kilmarnock for two seasons. in 1992 he transferred to Hamilton Academical as a player/coach, but returned to Kilmarnock the following year under manager and former Celtic colleague Tommy Burns.

In 1994 Stark retired from playing, having scored over 100 league goals, and became Burns' assistant as he took over as Celtic manager. When Burns left Celtic in 1997, Stark managed the side for 3 matches before leaving himself. Stark then had spells managing Greenock Morton and St Johnstone^[1] before becoming Queen's Park manager in 2004^[2].

Stark led Queen's to one of their greatest ever results in August 2006 at Firhill Stadium, when Queen's Park beat Scottish Premier League side Aberdeen on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw in the CIS Insurance League Cup^[3]. Stark also lead the Glasgow club to promotion from the Scottish Third Division and later hailed the achievement as the highlight of his football career^[4].

On January 1, 2008, Stark announced that he was leaving Queen's Park to oversee the Scottish national youth teams, a role that involves managing the Scotland national under-21 football team.

[edit] References

Sporting positions
Preceded by Kenny Brannigan	Queen's Park F.C. manager 2004-2008	Succeeded by Gardner Speirs
Preceded by Maurice Malpas	Scotland national under-21 football team manager 2008-present	Succeeded by Incumbent

v • d • e Greenock Morton F.C. – Managers Morell (1904–08) • Cochrane (1908–27) • Torrance (1927–31) • Cochrane (1931–34) • Wright (1934–38) • Davies (1938–55) • McKenzie (1955–57) • McIntosh (1957–60) • Stewart (1960–72) • Smith (1972) • Stewart (1972–74) • Sorenson (1974–75) • Gilroy (1975–76) • Rooney (1976–83) • Miller (1983) • T. McLean (1983–84) • W. McLean (1984–85) • McGraw (1985–97) • Stark (1997–00) • McCall (2000) • Evans (2000–01) • Maxwell (2001) • Cormack (2001–02) • McPherson (2002) • McCormack (2002–04) • McInally (2004–08) • Irons (2008–-) •

v • d • e St. Johnstone F.C. – Managers Grant (1919–20) • Buchan (1920–22) • Taylor (1922–31) • Muirhead (1931–36) • Rutherford (1936–47) • Crapnell (1947–53) • Pattillo (1953–58) • Brown (1958–67) • Ormond (1967–73) • Stewart (1973–76) • Storrie (1976–78) • Stuart (1978–80) • Rennie (1980–85) • Gibson (1985–87) • Totten (1987–92) • McClelland (1992–93) • Sturrock (1993–98) • Clark (1998–01) • Stark (2001–2004) • Connolly (2004–05) • Coyle (2005–07) • McInnes (2007–)