Neil knew Mcneill wasn’t too big for the Bully Wee
Some of the Clyde players weren’t sure what to expect when Billy Mcneill became their manager in April, 1977.
He was a big man with an enormous reputation in football.
How would the first British player to lift the European Cup cope with life at a struggling Second Division side?
Bully Wee striker Neil Hood knew it would be no problem for “Cesar”.
He recalled: “I had played against Billy during my spells with Ayr United and Hamilton Accies.
“Everyone knew he was a great player, but I realised he was also a great man when I was still a teenager.
“I lived in Ayr and would occasionally see Billy and his wife, Liz, at the town’s Darlington Hotel at a cabaret night.
“Although he was the legendary captain of Celtic and I was just starting out at a low level, he would always come over and talk to me.
“Even if you didn’t know him, he made you feel that he knew you.
“That meant I had no worries when he came to Shawfield to start his career in management.
“He would encourage us by telling wee stories from his own playing career.
“His stay at the club was brief, but he brought a new professionalism to training.
“The last game of his reign was a Glasgow Cup tie – against Celtic.
“Although that was his team, he wanted to beat them as badly as we all did. We lost 4-2.
“One of Billy’s big things was seeing something in Steve Archibald that the rest of us didn’t.
“He was playing as a midfielder or sweeper for us, and used to get knocked about quite a bit.
“Billy later signed him for Aberdeen and converted him into a striker, who went on to play for Spurs, Barcelona and Scotland.”
Another reason for Clyde being grateful to Mcneill was his recommendation that Craig Brown took over from him as manager.
“Craig was the best I worked for. What an organiser he was,” Hood continued.
“He was ahead of his time, and got all the players believing in themselves.”
Neil started his professional career with Ayr and then moved to Queen of the South.
The reason for his departure from the Doonhamers was extremely strange.
He said: “I was the club’s top goalscorer, but I got a free transfer because I was getting more expenses than the other players.
“I was travelling from Ayr to Dumfries for games and the chairman, Willie Harkness, thought it was costing too much.
“The fans announced me as their Player of the Year at the end of season dance and then found out I’d been freed. There was uproar.
“Fortunately, Ronnie Simpson signed me for Hamilton Accies and I never looked back.”
Accies fans remember Neil banging in a hat-trick against Leeds United in a friendly.
He said: “Leeds has just signed Roy Ellam from Huddersfield to play at centre-half.
“Paul Hegarty and I were playing as double strikers and we ran riot against him.
“I knew the way to goal but was never quick enough to really make it to the top.
“I preferred to combine working with parttime football and turned down a few offers.”
Clyde was the club where Big Neilly really made his long-lasting reputation.
His ability for finding the net meant he was top goalscorer at clubs for eight consecutive seasons.
He said: “I’m a Clyde man through and through. I’m very proud to be in the club’s Hall of Fame.
“I was there from 1975 until 1982, apart from one season as player-manager at Stranraer.
“That was my biggest mistake in football. I was only 31 and too young for the job.”
Neil, now 68, has just won the biggest fitness battle of his life by recovering from a brain tumour.
Looking back at his time in football, he said: “My opponents and I would kick lumps out of one another, but then we’d go for a pint together after the game.”
The late Billy Mcneill would approve of that.