Billy McNeill

The club is saddened by the death today of Billy McNeill, a great of the Scottish game and a former manager of Clyde.

Billy’s managerial career began with The Bully Wee in 1977, in what turned out to be a very short spell, before he was invited to take charge at Aberdeen.

He took over the reins at Shawfield in April 1977, towards the end of what had been a very difficult season for Clyde in the Second Division. In the eight matches that followed, Billy certainly steadied the ship, recording four wins, three draws and one defeat. At that time when two points were awarded for a victory, that totalled a very commendable 11 points gathered out of a possible 16.

Billy had one more game in charge of Clyde; a Glasgow Cup semi-final at Shawfield against his former team Celtic, a match he described as “the highlight” of his time at the club. The Bully Wee more than matched their illustrious opponents – who included the likes of Danny McGrain, Kenny Dalglish, Tommy Burns and Alfie Conn in their ranks – and twice came from behind to level. It took two Celtic goals in the last six minutes to eventually win the tie.

When he decided to move to Aberdeen shortly after that match, Billy still had a big influence on Clyde’s future. It was he who recommended Craig Brown to the Clyde board as his replacement and it was also Billy who boosted the club’s finances a few months later when he bought Steve Archibald for £20,000.

The club’s thoughts are with Billy’s family and friends at this sad time.