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 lea ...

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 association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

. 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, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

final, but he was sold on to

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

for £12,000 in December 1986. He helped the "Railwaymen" to win

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

out of the Fourth Division in 1988–89, before he was sold on to

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

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 , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

for a £35,000 fee in May 1993, following a successful three-month

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

spell in which he featured in the club's

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

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 mi ...

. He helped the "Valiants" to win promotion out of the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

in 1993–94. He was allowed to leave on a free transfer in May 1995. He then spent a season each with

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

and former club Crewe Alexandra before he went into

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, 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 ...

with

Northwich Victoria Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers River Weaver, Weaver and River Dane, Dane, east of Chester, south of Warr ...

Bamber Bridge Bamber Bridge is a large village in Lancashire, England, south-east of Preston, in the borough of South Ribble. The name derives from the Old English "bēam" and "brycg", which probably means "tree-trunk bridge". People who live in Bamber Bri ...

and Witton Albion.

Career

Born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, Billing started his career with local

non-League Non-League football describes association football, 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 ...

side South Liverpool before being signed up by

Howard Kendall Howard Kendall (22 May 1946 – 17 October 2015) was an English footballer and manager. Kendall joined Preston North End as an apprentice and stayed with the club when he turned professional. He was a runner-up in the 1964 FA Cup with Preston ...

at Everton in January 1986. He only played one

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

game for the "Toffees". Also, he featured in both legs of the 1986

final defeat to

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

. He left

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a Association football, football stadium in Walton, Liverpool, Walton, Liverpool, England, it was the home of Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton from 1892 until 2025. It is now the home of Everton F.C. (women), Everton's ...

after being sold to

for £12,000 in December 1986. The "Railwaymen" finished 17th in the Fourth Division in 1986–87 and 1987–88.

Manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Dario Gradi Dario Gradi (born 8 July 1941) is an Italian-English former football player, coach and manager. He was associated for more than 36 years with Crewe Alexandra, where he was variously manager, director of football and director of the Academy, unt ...

took the

Gresty Road Gresty Road or the Alexandra Stadium, currently known as the Mornflake Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Crewe, Cheshire, England. The home ground of Crewe Alexandra, it has an all-seated capacity of 10,153. History C ...

club to

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 counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. 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 ...

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 Terry Ian Butcher (born 28 December 1958) is an English football manager and former player. During his playing career as a defender, Butcher captained the England national team, winning 77 caps in a ten-year international career that feature ...

, before finishing 19th in 1991–92, one place and two points above

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

. Coventry played in the first-ever season of

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

football in 1992–93 under

Bobby Gould Robert Alfred Gould (born 12 June 1946) is an English former footballer and manager. Early life Robert Alfred Gould was born in Wyken, Coventry, Warwickshire on Wednesday, 12 June 1946. He is the son of Henry Gould and Helen McKellar Gould ...

, though Billing lost his first-team place by 1993–94 after new boss

Phil Neal Philip George Neal (born 20 February 1951) is an English retired footballer who played for Northampton Town, Liverpool and Bolton Wanderers as a full-back. He is regarded as one of the most successful English players of all time, having won ei ...

took over at

Highfield Road Highfield Road was a football stadium in the city of Coventry, England. It was the home ground for Coventry City for 106 years. History It was built in 1899 in the Hillfields district, close to the city centre, and staged its final game on 30 ...

. Billing made 58 league appearances for the Midlands side. He was

ed to

club

in February 1993. He impressed manager

John Rudge John Robert Rudge (born 21 October 1944) is an English former professional football player and manager who is the president of club Port Vale. Rudge began his playing career at Huddersfield Town in November 1961, but made little impact at t ...

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 former football player and manager. He began his playing career in his native Netherlands with Eerste Divisie club Schiedamse Voetbal Vereniging in 1987 before moving on to Wagenin ...

in the

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

final and the play-off final, both at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

. Vale won the cup game 2–1 over

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

, but were beaten 3–0 by

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

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

in May 1995. He played 43 games at Victoria Park under

Keith Houchen Keith Morton Houchen (born 25 July 1960) is an English former professional footballer and football manager. A forward, he scored 184 goals in 687 league and cup games. He started his professional career at Hartlepool United in February 1978, ...

, helping "Pools" to a 20th-place finish in the Third Division 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 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 ...

in 1996–97. However, he did not feature in the play-off final. He then headed into the

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

with

but was

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies * ...

-listed in January 1998. He later played for

, but left Bamber Bridge in March 1998. He signed with Witton Albion, 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 Nigel William Gleghorn (born 12 August 1962) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward or central midfielder. Career Gleghorn worked as a firefighter, playing part-time for his local club Seaham Red Star in the Nor ...

's Albion finished third in the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

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

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. Following the creation of the Premier ...

third-place promotion: 1988–89 Port Vale *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

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 20th-century English sportsmen