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Billy McNeill RIP


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11 minutes ago, Stevie67 said:

A true ledgend of Scottish football. Will Celtic rename the main stand in his honour?

I wouldn't imagine so. 

Personally, the Lisbon Lions stand is a fitting enough tribute for all who played their part that day. 

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Terrific player who is unique in being the only person to captain a Scottish team to a European Cup win.  More importantly, a classy bloke who gave far more to football than he ever took out.  We'll be lucky if we ever see a person and player like McNeill again.

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2 hours ago, Mark Connolly said:

Just 29 caps for Scotland.

How many would a guy like that have in the modern day?

Well the simple answer is fewer games and fewer caps awarded.  The more complex answer is that McNeill was playing at a time when Scotland produced some remarkable players - and had a fair few remarkable centre halves.  McNeill had to contend for a place against the likes of Dundee's Ian Ure, Liverpool's Ron Yeats and Rangers' Ronnie McKinnon and any of the four of them would have been first picks for, say, England.

I'm sad at McNeill's death because of the measure of the man.  I'm also sad because I, along with a handful of posters on here, remember a time when winning a cap for Scotland meant being better than some excellent players and McNeill personified that.

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2 minutes ago, The_Kincardine said:

Well the simple answer is fewer games and fewer caps awarded.  The more complex answer is that McNeill was playing at a time when Scotland produced some remarkable players - and had a fair few remarkable centre halves.  McNeill had to contend for a place against the likes of Dundee's Ian Ure, Liverpool's Ron Yeats and Rangers' Ronnie McKinnon and any of the four of them would have been first picks for, say, England.

I'm sad at McNeill's death because of the measure of the man.  I'm also sad because I, along with a handful of posters on here, remember a time when winning a cap for Scotland meant being better than some excellent players and McNeill personified that.

I suppose my point was more "What would we give for someone like him now"

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Pretty sad read to see this in the news today. Suppose the thong about McNeill is that if you are too youbg to remember him and havent seen footage, you are still highly aware of who he is and his standing in the game.

In the upper tier of legends where only a few reside.

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9 hours ago, Owsley said:

Very sad to hear this, but maybe a blessing as it must be horrible having that damned disease.  Always came across as a real gentleman.

i know it's pedantic, but Celtic's twitter and many others have spelled Caesar incorrectly. Some Celtic fans even get his surname wrong. 

Don’t believe you are correct here. He was named after actor Cesar Romero I’m sure so the spelling used by Celtic is correct. 

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17 hours ago, TheCelt67 said:

I wouldn't imagine so. 

Personally, the Lisbon Lions stand is a fitting enough tribute for all who played their part that day. 

How many of the Lions are left?

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As an after dinner speaker, I remember him telling a funny, self-deprecating, story about how, on holiday, his wife used to wear his European Cup medal on a pendant round her neck. The woman on the next sunbed asked what she had on the pendant , so Mrs McNeil regaled her with the full story - My husband is a footballer for a very good team - Celtic, you might have heard of them. They won the European Cup in 1967. You have to win your national league to qualify for the EC. It's the the best thing you can win at club football, etc etc etc. The woman listened politely. That night at dinner in the hotel they were sat next to and introduced to the woman and her husband - Arie Haan, winner of three European Cup medals !

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