Liz McNeill, widow of Celtic legend Billy, reflects on his dementia battle

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As a captain and manager of Celtic, Billy McNeill mastered the art of conjuring up the right words for the right moment.

Approaching his 70th birthday, subtle changes crept in. Finding a name for everyday household items became as challenging as the build-up to a cup final at Hampden.

For the first British footballer to raise the European Cup aloft, there was an obvious concern.

Former Scotland and Celtic star Billy McNeill passed away in April 2019 after a dementia battle

A central defender with Celtic for 18 years it was ‘Cesar’s’ job to head footballs. Training sessions were spent thudding leather spheres into the Glasgow sky. Saturdays were spent heading soaking wet footballs away from bruising centre forwards in a crowded penalty area.

‘I’m not sure if we ever talked about the links between heading the ball and Alzheimer’s,’ his widow Liz tells Sportsmail. I know that when Billy was alive there was research at Stirling University into the impact heading a ball has on movement of the brain.

‘I watched the television programme where the people tested headed the ball 20 times to see the results of that.

‘Some older people simply contract dementia because of their age. But then you look down south at footballers like Jeff Astle, who was quite young when he died.

‘I also saw the news on Bobby Charlton and Nobby Stiles and the England players who won the World Cup in 1966. All the training they did with a ball must have had an effect.

‘It’s like boxing, I think. If boxers are punched on the head all the time their brains move backwards and forwards all the time.’

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Between 1957 and 1991, McNeill won a remarkable 31 trophies as player and manager. Scotland’s Bobby Moore, his every public utterance was measured and carefully chosen to represent Celtic the ‘right’ way.

That’s why the early warning signs could not be dismissed forever. To family and friends, he was no longer the man they knew.

‘Sometimes when you get to a certain age you do get caught up,’ Liz continued.

McNeill is seen with the Champions League trophy during a draw for the tournament in 2013

‘I asked Mike Jackson (McNeill’s long-time friend): “Have you noticed anything with Billy saying the wrong words”? ‘He said he had noticed the odd thing and we took it from there.

‘One day we were sitting before he was diagnosed and Billy said to me: “I think there’s something wrong with me. I can’t remember things”.

‘As you do, I said: “Ach, don’t be stupid, I can’t remember things either”. We passed it off like that. But as time went on we realised something wasn’t quite right. We all did.’

The tests revealing Alzheimer’s disease and dementia came after his 70th birthday. Research by the University of Glasgow’s Dr Willie Stewart indicates that the eighth decade is the point at which a career in football makes professionals three and a half times more likely to die of a neurodegenerative illness than those from other walks of life.

McNeill finally succumbed in April 2019 at the age of 79.

‘Billy lasted nine years and, in the last two years of his life, he couldn’t communicate,’ adds Liz. ‘He lost the power of his speech. A lot of people don’t last as long as that But when that happens you kind of lose the person that you knew.

‘We tried our best. I would get a taxi and take him up to The Avenue shopping centre and you could see his eyes light up when he got out and about and saw people.

‘He couldn’t walk so well towards the end but people would come and shake his hand and have a wee word with him. You take comfort from the fact he was so well-liked and admired and you feel proud. But it’s a horrible disease which takes over your life.’

Jimmy Johnstone, Celtic’s greatest ever player, passed away from Motor neurone disease in 2006. Another of the Lisbon Lions – matchwinner Stevie Chalmers – died after his own struggle with dementia a week after McNeill at the age of 83.