Billy Horner

Who is Billy Horner?

William 'Billy' Horner is an English footballer and manager.

Horner played at Middlesbrough from 1960 to 1969, primarily as a defender. He moved on to Darlington where he played until 1975.

He was player-manager of Darlington during the 1974–75 season, in which the club had to apply for re-election. He left the club at the end of the season and was appointed as coach to Darlington's arch-rivals Hartlepool United. In October 1976, he took over as manager, and had two separate spells in this role: one from 1976–1983 and the other from 1983-1986. Although Hartlepool applied for re-election to the League on three occasions, Horner also guided the club to a respectable 9th place finish in 1980–81, during which the club had been promotion contenders. In his second spell at the club, Hartlepool finished 7th in 1985–86, in which they had also been a promotion contender for much of the season.