Since the sad passing of Billy McNeill last week, the Celtic family has been in mourning. Tributes were paid at his iconic statue on the Celtic Way. The club also conducted a minute’s applause prior to Saturday’s match against Kilmarnock. The Green Brigade section unveiled a fitting display to the legend and both club’s wore black armbands.
Celtic also announced that they will wear the number five on their shorts when they face Hearts in the Scottish Cup final later this month.
While these are nice marks of respect, some fans want to see permanent tributes to the captain of the Lisbon Lions.
Hoops manager Neil Lennon said that he would be in favour of retiring the number five jersey. Other suggestions have included renaming the North Stand the ‘Billy McNeill Stand’.
Celtic already have two perfect tributes
Like all of the Lisbon Lions, Billy McNeill was a humble man. He wouldn’t have wanted to steal the glory for himself. His symbolic statue, unveiled in 2016, is the perfect reminder of who he was to the Celtic family.
Celtic Park’s ‘Lisbon Lions Stand’ is another fine tribute to McNeill and the rest of that iconic team, including Stevie Chalmers who died earlier this week. That permanent memorial covers every member of Celtic’s greatest ever team and doesn’t single anyone out.
Billy McNeill’s funeral takes place in Glasgow on Friday with his family inviting all fans to attend.
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