Sky News journalist and Celtic season ticket holder Andrew McFadyen explains why Billy McNeill, whose death was announced on Tuesday, should be remembered as an all-time great of British football:

Billy McNeill was Celtic’s greatest ever captain.

On match days, fans walking up to the stadium pass his statue, holding aloft the European Cup. It’s a place to stop and take photographs with your children.

You can forget about Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.

Celtic were the first British club to become champions of Europe, in 1967, and they did it with 11 players who were all born within 30 miles of Glasgow.

I don’t know if West Ham fans still sing about Bobby Moore at the Olympic Stadium, or if Bobby Charlton’s name can be heard at Old Trafford these days.

But Celtic fans still sing about the man they called “Cesar”.

“There’s only one King Billy, that’s McNeill” echoed around Hampden Park during the recent Scottish Cup semi-final against Aberdeen – as it does at most home games.

As well as the European Cup, he captained Celtic to nine successive league titles, seven Scottish Cups and six League Cups.

In two spells as manager, he won four more titles and cups.

As football legends go, McNeill is up there with the greatest of them all. But the achievements of this big, strong centre-half went beyond what he did on the park.

In the 1960s, working class Scotland could be a hard place with dark prejudices.

Irish Catholics suffered widespread discrimination in many workplaces, from shipbuilding and engineering to journalism.

Celtic’s biggest rivals, Rangers, were notorious for refusing to sign Catholic players.

So, when Celtic beat Inter Milan 2-1, in Lisbon, it made a statement that gave a whole community greater confidence and self-respect – and it still does today.

Nobody can say you are not good enough when you are European champions and Billy McNeill represents you.

More than 50 years on, what he and his teammates achieved makes everyone who cares about Scottish football puff out our chests a bit more.

“Big Billy” wasn’t just a great footballer, he was also a great human being.

Celtic’s old training ground, at Barrowfield, was close to the Marie Curie Hospice in Glasgow’s east end. My gran was treated there for cancer.

When my grandpa drove her up, he would sometimes walk over to watch the players train.

I remember him telling me that McNeill, who was then the manager, came over to speak with him and offered a cup of tea. It was a simple gesture that meant a lot at a difficult time.

Many families will have stories like this.

Celtic and Scotland have lost a giant of the game who will be remembered for his kindness and humanity, as well as his thundering headers.

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