Billy McNeill – born to wear the Hoops

We take a look back at Cesar’s many achievements as both player and manager with his beloved Hoops on the day the legend was born.

Here we take a brief look at 18-year career as a player with the only club he ever played for on what would have been his 84th birthday.

FIRST GAME

August 23, 1958, League Cup, Celtic 2-0 Clyde, Celtic Park

In the League Cup sectional games of 1958/59, Celtic started well with two wins and a draw, amassing 10 goals in the process when manager, Jimmy McGrory decided to infuse some new blood against Clyde. His hand was forced, though, as just three days earlier, the same sides had clashed in the opening league fixture at Shawfield and Celtic legend Bobby Evans suffered a back injury in the 2-1 defeat. So, in the next game an 18-year-old was introduced to the fray, and while even to this day the League Cup is viewed as the perfect vehicle to transport promising youngsters from reserve dreams to first-team reality – this youngster was destined to become one of the greatest figureheads in the club’s history. Billy McNeill took his bow in front of 39,000 fans as the Celts beat Clyde 2-0 and the young defender went on to make 23 first-team appearances in his debut season – they wouldn’t be his last.

NICKNAME

He was affectionately known as ‘Big Billy’ – just say those two words together and people immediately know who you are talking about. However, he is also known as ‘Cesar’ and with Celtic’s conquest over Italian giants, Inter Milan in 1967, it’s easy to understand why many would assume the name comes from Julius Caesar. The spelling is different, though, and it comes from the 1960 movie Ocean’s 11 and the character, Duke Santos played by Cesar Romero. A group of the young Celts at the time had nicknames from the movie and Big Billy was dubbed Cesar because he was the only one who had a car.

HOOPS HIGHPOINT

May 25, 1967, European Cup final, Celtic 2-1 Inter Milan, Estadio Nacional, Lisbon

There’s no prizes for guessing the best 90 minutes of Billy McNeill’s football career. May 25, 1967 was a momentous day as Celtic became the first British and non-Latin team to win the European Cup with a 2-1 win over Inter Milan. It was a masterful display by the Hoops, who destroyed the Italian giants. The scoreline flattering Inter who couldn’t cope with Celtic’s attacking play. Despite Inter taking an early lead form the penalty spot, the game was marked by wave after wave of Celtic attacks. Tommy Gemmell equalised with thunderbolt shot and, only five minutes from time, Stevie Chalmers pounced to score the winner.  And it was Billy McNeill who made his way to the podium at the Estadio Nacional in Lisbon to lift the ‘Big Cup’. Celtic were the Kings of Europe.

LAST GAME

May 3, 1975, Scottish Cup final, Celtic 3-1 Airdrie, Hampden

As the crowd lapped up the after-match celebrations with Cesar being held aloft by his team-mates, little did they know that they had watched Celtic’s greatest ever captain play his last game in the green and white. He had decided beforehand that this would be his final match and he went out on a high by collecting his 23^rd top-class winner’s medal as a Celtic player. Paul Wilson (2) and Pat McCluskey netted the goals but the day belonged to McNeill who later admitted that he felt he retired too early in giving up the game at the age of 35.

BILLY MCNEILL

Born: March 2, 1940 in Bellshill.

Joined: August 20, 1957 from school

• Left: May 3, 1975 retired

TROPHY TRAIL

• League (9):             1965/66, 1966/67, 1967/68. 1968/69, 1969/70, 1970/71, 1971/72,1973/74, 1974/75.
• Scottish Cup (7):    1964/65, 1966/67, 1968/69, 1970/71, 1971/72, 1973/74, 1974/75.
• League Cup (6):      1965/66, 1966/67, 1967/68, 1968/69, 1969/70, 1974/75.
• European Cup (1):  1966/67.

STATS