William "Billy" Ayre: 7 May 1952–16 April 2002
Billy was appointed manager at Blackpool in 1990 and in the space of two years became the club's most popular boss since Stan Mortensen, and on matchdays, he wore the number 15 Blackpool shirt. He guided Blackpool to two successive play-off finals, in 1991 and 1992. When Billy took over, Blackpool were 18th Division 4; six months later, the team had qualified for the play-offs. Billy's team had a 24-game unbeaten run at Bloomfield Road and he guided them back to Wembley and gained promotion. Billy's record in his three-and-a-half years at Bloomfield Road is 191 games, 77 wins, 70 draws, 44 losses. Billy died just before his 50th birthday and Phil Brown said of him "he tried to play the game the way it should be played, he had the ability to turn a serious situation and make light of it. He was the salt of the earth, a man you could trust with your life".
I make no excuses for placing "Billy" near to one of the greatest of BFC legends and I'm sure JA would agree with my sentiments. My tributes are in remembrance of BFC legends and hopefully JA has many years before that need be said of him.