Celtic’s McNeill has dementia, family reveals
THE family of Billy McNeill have revealed that the 76-year-old Celtic hero is suffering from dementia.
In three months’ time the man voted Celtic’s greatest captain would have been expected to feature at the heart of celebrations marking 50 years since lifting the European Cup.
But his wife of 53 years Liz McNeill has disclosed that the former defender has lost the ability to speak and she is not sure if her husband can even recall his glory days as a footballer.
Last night Mrs McNeill, 73, said: ‘It is sad. We don’t know what he can remember because he can’t communicate.
‘We don’t know if he can remember what he did. Sometimes you will see something, a smile or a look, but then it goes.’
The devastating diagnosis was made seven years ago. McNeill had become lost taking his grandchildren to school, a journey that he had made many times before. His wife added: ‘I had noticed that Billy had been getting his words mixed up. He called the car a Hoover one day and I said to Mike Jackson, the best man at our wedding, had he noticed anything?
‘He said that he had. So we talked to the family and went to see a doctor.’ Now the captain of Celtic’s Lisbon Lions is being cared for at the family home in Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire.
Mrs McNeill, a former dancer, is being supported by the couple’s children – Susan, 52, twins Carol and Libby, 51, Paula, 46, and 41-year-old Martyn.
Nicknamed ‘Cesar’ by the Celtic fans, McNeill spent almost his entire playing career at Celtic Park, turning out 832 times in the green-and-white hoops between 1958 and 1975.
His defining moment came in the Portuguese capital Lisbon on May 25, 1967, when he led Celtic to victory over Inter Milan in the final of the European Cup.
He also played for Scotland 29 times and later carved out a successful career in management. In 1978, he succeeded the European Cup-winning manager Jock Stein in the Parkhead dugout.
He had a second spell in charge of Celtic almost a decade later, including the club’s successful centenary season of 1988, as well as spells managing Clyde, Aberdeen, Manchester City and Aston Villa. Last night his wife said she felt lucky that her husband still recognised his family and long-standing friends, although he cannot now be left on his own.
Mrs McNeill said: ‘If this had happened to him when he was younger, then I might feel different, but he’s 77 in March and we have to accept it. We take it day by day.’