Billy McNeill

William McNeill  (2 March 1940 – 22 April 2019) was a Scottish football player and manager. He played as a defender.

Life and career

Club career
McNeill was born in Bellshill. He played for nearby club Blantyre Victoria before signing for Celtic in 1957. During his playing career at Celtic, McNeill was the captain of the clubs most successful sides of the 1960s and 1970s. In his 18 seasons at the club, Celtic won many honours. This totalled nine league titles, seven Scottish Cups, six Scottish League Cups and one European Cup. In the 1966–67 season, Celtic won the European Cup Final against Inter Milan, with McNeill as captain. This was the first European Cup won by a British side, and the only to date won by a Scottish side. Celtic again made the European Cup Final in 1970. However, McNeill's side lost to Feyenoord.

McNeill played all of his senior games for Celtic. This makes him the Celtic player with the most games played for the club at 822. He retired from playing in 1975.

International career
McNeill played for Scotland between 1961 and 1972. In the 29 games played for his country, he scored three goals.

Management
Soon after retirement from playing, McNeill became a football manager. For a short time, he managed Clyde. He left Clyde after a short time for Aberdeen. He finished as a runner-up in the league and Scottish Cup with Aberdeen. Celtic manager Jock Stein left the club in 1978. McNeill soon became Celtic's manager. As Celtic manager between 1978 and 1983, he won three league titles, a Scottish Cup and a Scottish League Cup. He would go on to manage English sides Manchester City (1983–86) and Aston Villa (1986–87).

McNeill returned to manage Celtic in 1987. In his first season in his second stint, Celtic won the league and Cup double. The next season, 1988–89, the side won another Scottish Cup. However, the next two seasons saw no trophies won at Celtic and McNeill was sacked in May 1991. He never returned to full management but was caretaker manager at Hibernian for a short time in 1998.

Personal life and death
McNeill was awarded an MBE in 1974. He also wrote three books, For Celtic and Scotland (1966), Back to Paradise (1988) and Hail Cesar (2004).

In February 2017, McNeill's family said that he had been living with dementia for many years. He died on 22 April 2019, at the age of 79.

Club career stats

|-
|1957–58||rowspan="18"|Celtic||rowspan="18"|Division One||0||0||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||0||0
|-
|1958–59||17||0||colspan="2"|–||6||0||colspan="2"|–||23||0
|-
|1959–60||19||0||7||0||6||0||colspan="2"|–||32||0
|-
|1960–61||31||1||8||0||4||0||colspan="2"|–||43||1
|-
|1961–62||29||1||6||0||6||0||colspan="2"|–||41||1
|-
|1962–63||28||1||7||0||6||0||1||0||42||1
|-
|1963–64||28||0||4||0||6||0||8||0||46||0
|-
|1964–65||22||0||6||1||6||0||2||0||36||1
|-
|1965–66||25||0||7||0||10||0||7||1||49||1
|-
|1966–67||33||0||6||0||10||2||9||1||58||3
|-
|1967–68||34||5||1||0||10||0||2||0||47||5
|-
|1968–69||34||3||7||3||9||0||6||0||56||6
|-
|1969–70||31||5||5||0||10||2||9||0||55||7
|-
|1970–71||31||1||8||1||10||0||5||1||54||3
|-
|1971-72||34||3||6||1||8||0||7||0||55||4
|-
|1972–73||30||1||7||1||10||0||4||0||51||2
|-
|1973–74||30||0||5||0||11||0||7||0||53||0
|-
|1974–75||30||1||4||0||9||0||2||0||45||1
486||22||94||7||137||4||69||3||786||36
486||22||94||7||137||4||69||3||786||36
|}

International career stats

|-
!Total||29||3
|}

Honours

Player
Celtic
 Scottish Football League: 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74
 Scottish Cup: 1964–65, 1966–67, 1968–69, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1973–74, 1974–75
 Scottish League Cup: 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1974–75
 European Cup: 1966–67

Manager
Celtic
 Scottish Football League: 1978–79, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1987–88
 Scottish Cup: 1979–80, 1987–88, 1988–89
 Scottish League Cup: 1982–83

Manchester City
 Football League Second Division: promotion 1984–85

References

Other websites

 

1940 births
2019 deaths
Deaths from dementia
Members of the Order of the British Empire
Scottish footballers
Scottish football managers
Scottish writers