Billy Stark

William Stark (born 1 December 1956) is a Scottish former football player and coach. He made 500 league appearances in total, including successful spells at St Mirren, Aberdeen and Celtic. He then turned to management, which has seen him take caretaker charge of both Celtic and Scotland - staying unbeaten at manager of both teams in his short spells - with longer roles at smaller club sides in Scotland.

Playing career Born in Glasgow, 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 his former club Aberdeen on penalty kicks after a 0–0 draw in the 2006–07 Scottish League Cup. Stark also led 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 work for the Scottish Football Association, a role that involved managing the under-21 national team. They reached the qualification playoffs for the 2011 European 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. Stark resigned from the position of Scotland under-21 manager in November 2014.

In June 2015, Stark was appointed assistant manager to Darren Young at newly promoted Scottish League One side Albion Rovers.

In June 2017, he was appointed manager at Scottish Lowland Football League side East Kilbride. He resigned from this position shortly before the end of the 2017–18 season. Stark then returned to the Scottish Football Association, within this role he became head coach of the under-19 national team.

Stark retired from coaching in April 2024.

Career statistics

Club

Managerial record