Billy Cook (footballer, born 1909)

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William “Billy” Cook (20 November 1909 – 11 December 1992) was a Northern Irish footballer who played as a defender and later became a coach and manager. He earned 15 caps for Ireland.

Cook started his career with Port Glasgow Athletic Juniors in Scotland before joining Celtic in 1930. He usually played right-back and helped Celtic win the Scottish Cup in 1933. In December 1932, he moved to Everton for £3,000, making about 250 appearances and scoring six goals. He was part of the Everton team that won the FA Cup in 1933 and was in the squad that won the league in 1939, though the war interrupted football after that. He was the last surviving member of the 1933 Everton FA Cup-winning team when he died in 1992.

During World War II he guested for several clubs. After the war he had short spells at Wrexham and Ellesmere Port Town, then became player-manager of Rhyl in 1946.

Cook’s later career took him abroad. He coached SK Brann in Norway, worked as a coach at Sunderland, and returned to Brann for a period. He also coached the Peru national team and later managed Portadown. He spent time as Northern Ireland’s youth team manager and managed the Iraq national team. He returned to the UK to manage Wigan, coach at Crewe Alexandra, and later became trainer-coach at Norwich City.