Greig mourns the loss of his Old Firm friend and foe
John Greig and Billy Mcneill were fiercely passionate, combative and competitive when they went into battle in the cauldron of the Old Firm.
As the greatest captains of Rangers and Celtic there was no quarter asked nor given when they went head to head in the 1960s and 70s.
They were on-field rivals for nearly 15 years and they were also foes in the dugout when they managed their respective clubs in the early 1980s.
However, a mutual respect onthefieldturnedintoawarm and lasting friendship off it.
Ibrox icon Greig said: “I had been well aware about his situation for quite a while and I was updated last week when I bumped into Tommy Callaghan.
“It’s always very sad when it happens.
“I just keep picturing Billy as a fantastic footballer, a giant of a man and an icon of the game – someone who was indestructible.
“We forget that time goes on. “We had an unusual situation where we had a mutual respect both on and off the field.
“We saw a lot of each other because we were the captains of our respective teams and we were asked to go to a lot of different things.
“In fact, we were still doing that up until fairly recently.
“Billy and I got to know each other very well and we became good friends as well as rivals.
“People might be surprised by that but back in the sixties, the international team was made up predominantly of Rangers and Celtic players.
“So we also played together a lot as well as facing each other in Old Firm games.
“We had some fantastic battles over the years and played in some great matches – whether it was a vital league game or a cup final.
“Billy was a great footballer, but more than that he was a terrific man.”