Retire Number 5?

I'm not really in favour of this tbh, it is one idea that a press guy asked Lenny about - he said he was in Paris on Tuesday morning (recruitment business?) when he heard the sad news. Retiring the shirt is a negative - James Forrest on The Celtic Blog is right - get more great number 5 to follow in his footsteps, to follow the example that Billy set. Henrik was inspired to be another Magnificent Seven after Jinky.

The suggestion to rename the North Stand in honour of Billy appeals to me greatly. The Hail Cesar Stand or the Billy McNeill Stand would be a fitting tribute IMO.

Going to be an emotional day tomorrow, might stick a fiver on 5-0...
Hail Hail W.C!
 
I'm not really in favour of this tbh, it is one idea that a press guy asked Lenny about - he said he was in Paris on Tuesday morning (recruitment business?) when he heard the sad news. Retiring the shirt is a negative - James Forrest on The Celtic Blog is right - get more great number 5 to follow in his footsteps, to follow the example that Billy set. Henrik was inspired to be another Magnificent Seven after Jinky.

The suggestion to rename the North Stand in honour of Billy appeals to me greatly. The Hail Cesar Stand or the Billy McNeill Stand would be a fitting tribute IMO.

Going to be an emotional day tomorrow, might stick a fiver on 5-0...
Now that’s a great Idea WC the Hail Cesar stand is a belter.

HH ☘️⭐
 
While I'd understand if the club chose to retire the No.5 jersey I think a more fitting memorial to Cesar would be that after Jozo moves on it should become a jersey number that has to be earned. It's allocation should be restricted and only ever gifted to a defender once they have proven themselves to be worthy of wearing it.

Making it an honour to pull on the number will incentivise future defenders and give them something to aim and compete amongst themselves for. Whoever displays the ability, passion and dedication to the jersey the way Billy once did gets honoured with the No.5 jersey to wear the following season.
 
When,sometime in the faraway future, my wee namesake leaves this mortal coil, will we retire 7,8,9,10 and 11 jerseys cos I bet he wore them all. ?
No retiring of jerseys for me. No wean could have that dream of wearing the same number as Cesar(and big jock for that matter). Naw!
 
Over on this side of the Atlantic, retiring numbers for legendary players is a big deal. In fact, no team in Major Leauge Baseball can have a player wearing 42 because Jackie Robinson's number has been retired for all teams since he broke the colour barrier in baseball.

James Forrest (the writer, not the footballer) wrote this blog item to argue the point against. My own opinion is that Celtic should retire the number 5 in McNeill's honour, but Forrest makes good points, and it's well worth a discussion.

https://thecelticblog.com/2019/04/b...driving-force-behind-celtics-legends-to-come/


Shocking .... colour barrier...... there should never be a barrier to anything if your good yer good.

Some folk have skewed views n should be ashamed.

Not u Larry ??
 
It’s a hard one te call. Mebe we should have retired the number 7 after Jimmy Johnstone I’d mebe after Larsson left he was the magnificent seven. But I guess you can’t retire every number even when the player holds a unique place in our hearts like Billy McNeil. But I would like us to get rid of the number on the back and go back to just a number on our shorts. A unique style fir a unique club.
 
;)
It’s a hard one te call. Mebe we should have retired the number 7 after Jimmy Johnstone I’d mebe after Larsson left he was the magnificent seven. But I guess you can’t retire every number even when the player holds a unique place in our hearts like Billy McNeil. But I would like us to get rid of the number on the back and go back to just a number on our shorts. A unique style fir a unique club.

I would love that GG, but sadly we were forced to put numbers on the back so the MIB could blame Broony easier;)
 
Keep the numbers for any future or present player who pulls on a Celtic shirt will know of it's history,Jinky,Billy Big Yogi Bertie John Clark Henrik we could go on forever Jock Stein Charley Tully Bobby Evans,all men from history who played for the shirt and that's is why we should keep them and be proud that they gave to the club and unlike others who bled thier club dry as the song says ( if you know the history) Hail Hail
 
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Change the name of the Celtic Way or name a stand after him, retiring No 5. No any central defender of the future would see it as a privilege to wear that iconic number, leave retiring numbers to the Americans.

☘️HAIL HAIL☘️
 

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