William Albert Gilbert (born 10 November 1959) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

, born in Lewisham, London, who made more than 400 appearances in the Football League playing as a defender for Crystal Palace, Portsmouth, Colchester United and

Maidstone United Maidstone United Football Club is a professional football club based in Maidstone, Kent, England. The team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league system. The current club filled the void left by the ol ...

. He won 11 caps for England at under-21 level.

Career

Gilbert began his career at Terry Venables' Crystal Palace, winning the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

twice as part of the so-called "Team of the Eighties" as well as being a key fixture in the side that won promotion to the First Division. Gilbert remained with Palace after their relegation back to the Second Division, winning the 1984 Player of the Year award in his final season at

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst in the London Borough of Croydon which is the home ground of Premier League side Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted international footba ...

. Gilbert then moved to Portsmouth, spending five years at

Fratton Park Fratton Park is a football ground in Portsmouth, England, which is the home of Portsmouth F.C. Fratton Park remains as the only home football ground in Portsmouth FC's entire history. The early Fratton Park was designed by local architect A ...

before moving on again to Colchester United. He also spent a season at

, before playing

non-league football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

for Havant Town, Whyteleafe and Waterlooville. He managed Waterlooville for a time, then after their merger with Havant Town to form Havant & Waterlooville, he became player-manager of the merged club, leading them to the Southern League Southern Division title in his first season, before departing in 2000.

Honours

Club

; Crystal Palace * Football League Second Division Winner (1): 1978–79 *

Winner (2): 1976–77, 1977–78 ; Portsmouth * Football League Second Division Runner-up (1): 1986–87

Individual

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

(1): 1984–85 * Crystal Palace Player of the Year (1): 1984

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Billy 1959 births Living people Footballers from Lewisham English men's footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football defenders Crystal Palace F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. (1897) players Havant Town F.C. players Whyteleafe F.C. players Waterlooville F.C. players Havant & Waterlooville F.C. players Havant & Waterlooville F.C. managers English Football League players Southern Football League players English football managers Waterlooville F.C. managers