I can’t say that I’m in any real way qualified to talk about Billy Young, the man, the player, the manager, the Bohemian. His managerial spell had finished a few years before I started going to Dalymount, my knowledge of Billy the talented League of Ireland full back was limited to the stories told by my Dad, a brief, erstwhile teammate of his who always singled out Billy and centre-half Willie Browne as the two great players of a difficult Bohemian era.

However, I did get to spend a few hours in Billy’s company on different occasions to interview him for various projects, to hear his amazing recall or games, events, characters. Most importantly, as recently as March this year at our home game against Drogheda United I saw the love and esteem in which Billy was held by many of his former players. There was a half-time presentation at the game to honour Billy and the players of the League winning 1974-75 team, and in the Jackie Jameson Bar beforehand (of course it was Billy who brought Jackie to Dalymount) it was like a celebrity had walked in when Billy arrived with his son Paul.

So many former players, men who won so much in the game, who had been capped at international level, were straight out of their seats to shake his hand, to ask after his health, to share old memories and stories. Walking down in front of the Jodi stand at half-time was a slow process given the amount of well-wishers seeking to stop and chat. Roddy Collins, raced down the steps to embrace his former manager at the halfway line.

Billy was a man who encapsulated so much of Bohemian Football Club’s history, one of the best fullbacks in the League, he stayed loyal to an amateur club through the 1960s knowing there was little chance of silverware. A thoughtful and forward-thinking coach, he replaced the great Seán Thomas in 1973, by which stage Bohemians had abandoned the club’s famed amateur status and would remain at the helm for an unbelievable sixteen years.

During that time he assembled several exciting teams, built around his unerring eye for talent. The 70s witnessed Bohemians win a fist league title since the 1930s a feat achieved again in the 1977-78 season as well as Niall Shelly’s famous winner in the 1976 FAI Cup final. There were numerous other minor trophies as well as many famous European nights. Billy was in change when Bohemians made the last 16 of the European Cup despite having to play home games away from Dalymount, he was the man at the helm when Rangers were beaten in Dalymount in 1984.

The list of players he brought through cannot be done justice in the space available but suffice to say that through the 1970s and 80s it was not unusual for there to be senior Irish internationals in the Dalymount dressing room, or for players to make the step of transferring straight into the first teams of topflight clubs in Britain.

Billy told great stories of transfer dealings with Tommy Docherty, or calling Bob Paisley for advice on European opponents. He was selected as coach for numerous League of Ireland sides, travelling to Libya when under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi or bringing the first side to face the Basque national team in the famous San Mames since the death of Franco. He was a modern, progressive coach in a league with dwindling attendances, aging infrastructure and in time when transfer fees for top players were a pittance and European football often ended up diminishing club coffers.

One wonders, what a man of his talents could achieve in the game were he coming through today. By 1989 some in the club were losing patience with his tenure in charge, a decade of near misses, runner up finishes, a decade that promised much but delivered only occasionally. A group of members tried to force an EGM to have a change in manager but it never got that quite far. After almost 25 years as player of manager Billy’s time with Bohemians came to end. But thankfully, not his involvement in the club, he has still been a regular sight at games, has returned in previous seasons to speak to new players an instil the Bohemian values, and with the benefit of hindsight the scale of his achievements is all the more impressive.

Beyond all this Billy was a gentleman, great company, a wonderful storyteller with a fine eye for humour. I can only imagine how much he will be missed by his family and those close to him. With an association with the club that goes back to 1962, and a winning personality and footballing CV sure we can say that Billy Young is one of the greatest ever Bohemians.

This article originally featured as a tribute to Billy Young in the Bohemian FC match programme in April 2025, the display shown in the photo is the work of the NBB and was unveiled in July 2025