Billy Stark

This article is about the footballer born 1956. For the footballer born 1937, see Billy Stark (footballer born 1937).

Billy Stark

Stark as Scotland under-21 head coach, in 2009
Personal information
Full name	William Stark
Date of birth	1 December 1956 (1956-12-01)
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Scotland under-21 (head coach)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1975-1983	St Mirren	255	(60)
1983-1987	Aberdeen	109	(41)
1987-1990	Celtic	64	(17)
1990-1992	Kilmarnock	22	(6)
1992-1993	Hamilton Academical	14	(0)
1993-1994	Kilmarnock	36	(3)
Teams managed
1994-1997	Celtic (Assistant Manager)
1997	Celtic (Caretaker Manager)
1997-2000	Greenock Morton
2001-2004	St. Johnstone
2004-2008	Queen's Park
2008-present	Scotland under-21
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Billy Stark (born 1 December 1956) is a Scottish football former player and coach. He is currently head coach of the Scotland national under-21 football team.

Player

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 winners 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 Division and Scottish Cup double 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 Championship, 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. Stark retired from playing in 1994, having scored over 100 league goals.

Coach

After retiring as a player, Stark became Burns' assistant at Celtic. When Burns left Celtic in 1997, Stark managed the side for three matches in a caretaker capacity before leaving himself. Stark then had spells managing Greenock Morton and St Johnstone before becoming Queen's Park manager in 2004.

Stark led Queen's to one of their greatest results of modern times 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. 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.

Stark left Queen's Park on 1 January 2008 to oversee the Scottish national youth teams, a role that involves managing the Scotland national under-21 football team. Stark's under-21 side reached the qualification playoffs for the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, but they lost out to Iceland. David Goodwillie, Danny Wilson and Barry Bannan were promoted from the under-21s to the full national team selected by Craig Levein in November 2010.

References

Sporting positions
Preceded by Maurice Malpas	Scotland national under-21 football team manager 2008-present	Succeeded by Incumbent