he made 98 appearances and scored 26 goals. Port Vale Bingham joined Port Vale for a then joint-club record fee of £15,000 in August 1963. He scored seven goals in 38 appearances in 1963–64, as Freddie Steele's "Valiants" finished 13th in the Third Division. Johnny Carey, now manager at Nottingham Forest, offered £12,000 to take Bingham back into the top-flight, but he elected to remain at Vale Park. He retired from playing after breaking his leg in a 4–0 defeat at Brentford on 5 September 1964. He left for Southport on a free transfer in April 1965 to become their trainer-coach. International career He was a Northern Ireland international, having won his first cap against France as a 19-year-old. Manager Peter Doherty selected him to compete in the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden. This was after Bingham had scored against Portugal in Lisbon to help his country win a qualification place at the expense of Portugal and Italy. In the tournament itself, Northern Ireland beat Czechoslovakia and drew with West Germany, before beating Czechoslovakia again in a play-off match to advance into the quarter finals, where they lost 4–0 to France. He was awarded a total of 56 full caps, a record at the time, and also scored 10 goals, half of which were scored in British Home Championship matches against Scotland. Style of play Bingham played at outside-right and had excellent tactical and positional skills, as well as good scoring ability. Managerial career Southport Bingham became a coach at Southport in June 1965, and was appointed manager at the end of the year, at the expense of Willie Cunningham. He led the team to a tenth-place finish in the Fourth Division in 1965–66. In his first full season in charge, 1966–67, he led the "Sandgrounders" to promotion as runners-up – the club's first ever promotion. He departed Haig Avenue in October 1967, with Southport in safe hands as they finished the 1967–68 Third Division campaign in 13th place under Don McEvoy's stewardship. Northern Ireland, Plymouth & Linfield He left Southport to take charge of the Northern Ireland national team in October 1967. The position was not a taxing one however, and Bingham took charge at Plymouth Argyle in February 1968, replacing Derek Ufton. He was unable to steer the club away from relegation, as the "Pilgrims" finished bottom of the Second Division. He took the club to fifth