Peter Graham Billing (born 24 October 1964) 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 ...

who played in central defence. He made 281 league and cup appearances in an eleven-year career in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

. A former South Liverpool player, he turned professional with Everton in January 1986. He featured in the

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the prev ...

final, but he was sold on to Crewe Alexandra for £12,000 in December 1986. He helped the "Railwaymen" to win promotion out of the

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

in 1988–89, before he was sold on to

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

for £120,000 in June 1989. He made 58 top-flight appearances for the "Sky Blues" before joining

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

for a £35,000 fee in May 1993, following a successful three-month loan spell in which he featured in the club's Football League Trophy

success Success is the state or condition of meeting a defined range of expectations. It may be viewed as the opposite of failure. The criteria for success depend on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. One person mig ...

. He helped the "Valiants" to win promotion out of the Second Division in 1993–94. He was allowed to leave on a free transfer in May 1995. He then spent a season each with Hartlepool United and former club Crewe Alexandra before he went into

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 ...

with

Northwich Victoria {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

, Bamber Bridge and

Witton Albion Witton may refer to one of several places in England: *Witton, historic name of an area of Northwich, Cheshire **Witton Albion F.C. *Witton Gilbert, County Durham *Witton-le-Wear, County Durham *Witton, an area of Blackburn, Lancashire * Witton, B ...

Career

Born in Liverpool, Billing started his career with local non-League side South Liverpool before being signed up by Howard Kendall at Everton in January 1986. He only played one First Division game for the "Toffees". Also, he featured in both legs of the 1986

final defeat to rivals Liverpool. He left Goodison Park after being sold to Crewe Alexandra for £12,000 in December 1986. The "Railwaymen" finished 17th in the

in 1986–87 and 1987–88.

Manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Dario Gradi took the Gresty Road club to promotion in 1988–89 with a third-place finish. Billing made 88 league appearances for the club in his two-and-a-half seasons in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. He was sold on to

for £120,000 in June 1989 as manager

John Sillett John Charles Sillett (20 July 1936 – 30 November 2021) was an English football player and manager. He played for Chelsea, Coventry City and Plymouth Argyle. He won the Championship with Chelsea in 1955, playing alongside his brother Peter Si ...

needed defensive cover. The "Sky Blues" finished 12th in the top-flight in the 1989–90 season, though Billing had to wait until October before making his club debut in the League Cup. They then dropped to 16th in 1990–91 under new boss Terry Butcher, before finishing 19th in 1991–92, one place and two points above relegated Luton Town. Coventry played in the first-ever season of Premier League football in 1992–93 under Bobby Gould, though Billing lost his first-team place by 1993–94 after new boss Phil Neal took over at Highfield Road. Billing made 58 league appearances for the Midlands side. He was loaned to Second Division club

in February 1993. He impressed manager John Rudge and was signed permanently for a £35,000 fee in May 1993. Two of his 17 appearances for the "Valiants" in 1992–93 were as a substitute for

Robin van der Laan Robertus Petrus van der Laan (born 5 September 1968) is a Dutch football manager of Northern Premier League Division One South club Newcastle Town, and a former player. He began his playing career in his native the Netherlands with Eerste Di ...

in the

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

Football League Trophy final and the

play-off final The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, both at Wembley. Vale won the cup game 2–1 over Stockport County, but were beaten 3–0 by West Bromwich Albion in the play-off final. He did, though, help the club to achieve promotion with a second-place finish in 1993–94. His first-team chances limited in 1994–95, he was given a free transfer to Hartlepool United in May 1995. He played 43 games at

Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...

under Keith Houchen, helping "Pools" to a 20th-place finish in the

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

in 1995–96. He returned to Crewe in August 1996 and made 15 league appearances, helping Alex to win promotion out of the Second Division via the play-offs in 1996–97. However, he did not feature in the

. He then headed into the

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

with

but was transfer-listed in January 1998. He later played for Bamber Bridge, but left Bamber Bridge in March 1998. He signed with

, but retired in September 1999 to concentrate on becoming a PE instructor. He came out of retirement to rejoin Witton Albion two months later. He started 35 games in the 1999–2000 campaign as Nigel Gleghorn's Albion finished third in the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

Division One, missing out on both promotion and the league title on

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

Style of play

Billing was a "fearsome combative" defender.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Everton *

runner-up: 1986 Crewe Alexandra *

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

third-place promotion: 1988–89 Port Vale * Football League Trophy:

* Football League Second Division second-place promotion: 1993–94

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Billing, Peter 1964 births Living people Footballers from Liverpool English men's footballers Men's association football defenders South Liverpool F.C. players Everton F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Bamber Bridge F.C. players Witton Albion F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players