Billy McNeill

(William McNeill)

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Mossend, Scotland

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William McNeill MBE (2 March 1940 – 22 April 2019) was a Scottish football player and manager. He had a long association with Celtic, spanning more than sixty years as a player, manager and club ambassador. McNeill captained Celtic's 'Lisbon Lions' to their European Cup victory in 1967 and later spent two spells as the club's manager. As a player and manager, he won 31 major trophies with Celtic.

A defender, McNeill played for Celtic for his entire senior career, and holds the club record for most appearances, a total of 822 games over 18 seasons. He was captain during their most successful era in the 1960s and 70s. The club won nine consecutive Scottish league championships and thirteen other major domestic trophies in this time, and in 1967 became the first British club to win the European Cup. He also played 29 times for Scotland.

McNeill managed Celtic for nine seasons, from 1978 to 1983 and 1987 to 1991, winning four Scottish league championships. This included a league and cup double in 1987–88, the club's centenary season. He also managed Clyde, Aberdeen, Manchester City and Aston Villa. In 2015, Celtic installed a statue outside Celtic Park of McNeill holding aloft the European Cup, an iconic image in their history.

McNeill was born on 2 March 1940 in Bellshill, Lanarkshire. His father was a soldier in the Black Watch and later the Army Physical Training Corps. Aged nine, McNeill moved to Hereford in England where his father was posted, and stayed for two and a half years. Although he already liked football, he enjoyed playing rugby union in his time there.

He moved to Motherwell and excelled playing football as centre-half at Our Lady's High School. His schoolboy performances led to him signing for the junior team Blantyre Victoria.

McNeill was signed by Celtic for £250 in 1957 after then reserve team coach Jock Stein saw him playing for Scotland schoolboys against England. He was given the nickname Cesar after the actor Cesar Romero.

In his early career, Celtic endured some of their most difficult times, and did not win a trophy for eight years. After Stein became manager in 1965, however, the club's fortunes improved. In the 1965 Scottish Cup final, Celtic defeated Dunfermline 3–2, with McNeill scoring the winning goal. In that season he was named Scottish Footballer of the Year, the first year it was awarded.

With McNeill as captain, Celtic enjoyed their most successful period, dominating Scottish football and regularly competing in the latter stages of European competitions. They won nine Scottish League championships in a row, as well as seven Scottish Cups and six Scottish League Cups.

Celtic's greatest season was in 1966–67, when they won every competition they entered; as well as a domestic treble and the Glasgow Cup, McNeill led the team to victory in the 1967 European Cup Final. The team, which became known as the 'Lisbon Lions,' defeated Inter Milan 2–1 and McNeill (whose last minute goal, a characteristic header from a set piece, had ensured progression against Vojvodina Novi Sad in the quarter-final) was the first British footballer to lift the trophy. He also became the first player to captain his side to the European Treble, and remains the only captain to win the fabled Quadruple.

Following another domestic treble in 1968–69, in which another McNeill headed goal set his team on the way to a 4–0 win over Rangers in the Scottish Cup Final, Celtic again reached the European Cup final in 1970, this time losing to Feyenoord.

McNeill retired as a player in 1975, having made a club record 822 appearances for Celtic and never being substituted. He won 29 caps for Scotland, scoring 3 goals, and also played 9 times for the Scottish League XI.

McNeill's maternal grandparents were from Lithuania, while his father was of Irish descent. He was Catholic.

McNeill married Liz Callaghan, a dancer on the TV variety show The White Heather Club in 1963. They had five children.

McNeill, along with former Rangers player Eric Caldow, stood as a candidate for the Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party in the 2003 Scottish Parliament election. In 2008, he was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Glasgow.

During the 2014 Scottish independence referendum McNeill was a supporter of the Better Together campaign against Scottish independence.

It was reported in February 2017 that McNeill was suffering from dementia and was very limited in his speech. He died on 22 April 2019, aged 79.

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