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Davie Hay recalls how friendship with Billy McNeill was repaired

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Image for Davie Hay recalls how friendship with Billy McNeill was repaired

Davie Hay has spoken out about the most awkward time in his long career at Celtic.

In May 1986 he guided Celtic to one of the most incredible title wins in the club’s history but a year later he found himself cast aside in the shameless way that the old board specialised in treating others with.

As he watched Graeme Souness spend his way to winning the league chairman Jack McGinn told the press that if Hay wanted to sign Pat Nevin and Joe McLaughlin from Chelsea he’d need to use his own money!

Just after a season of disappointment ended McGinn came up with £500,000 to sign Mick McCarthy from Manchester City as Hay looked to rebuild the club for it’s Centenary season- a week later he was cast aside as Billy McNeill returned as manager.

The Centenary season was one of incredible success for Celtic but underneath it there was another story that didn’t quite fit in with the fairytale that supporters savoured.

Paying tribute to his former captain in the Evening Times Hay recalled that week in 1987:

I was sacked as Celtic manager and Billy had been offered the job before I found out I was losing mine. I didn’t like the way it was handled and don’t mind admitting that I was bitter for a while -but you move on and we made our peace. I’m so glad we did.

After that,Billy and I were friendly more than close friends. We would bump into one another quite often and I always enjoyed our chats. It was about ten years ago that the signs were there that not everything was right.

Billy’s great friend is a former team-mate, Mick Jackson. When Billy’s health was beginning to deteriorate, Mike and I would take him out every so often to the golf club. I felt it was important to help in any way I could after all the man did for me.

In 2016 Hay was announced as a Celtic ambassador.

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