This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. He retired from professional football in 1983 but played on in the Welsh National League with Chirk AAA, and also made an appearance in the FA Cup in 1985, at the age of 38. Then, from a re-taken corner, McNeil bundled in the equaliser and it was back to the North East for another replay. John told Wrexham I was on 50 per cent more than I was actually getting at Hereford so money-wise, I did pretty well out of the move! He took out all his frustrations on Wrexham’s FA Cup opponents as they enjoyed a memorable run to the quarter finals.

There were only few fans outside and as we got off the bus we said that there won’t be many here tonight.

Making his debut against Wrexham, where he was later a great success, on 20 August 1966 he went on to score eleven goals in his only season at St James' Park. He became the Manager of Wrexham in 1985 succeeded to progress the club to the Welsh Cup and into the European Cup Winners' Cup in his first season. You have to try and read where the other player is going to deliver the ball and you have to attack the space either in front or behind the defender. I read in an article recently that you spent over 20 years trying to get hold of your shirt from that season before a fan handed it in to you.

It was at the start of the 1971-72 season that McNeil really began to hit the goal trail with a vengeance. At the last home game of the season, John threw the shirt into the crowd and I am not happy as you can imagine. Even as Hereford finished bottom of the second division McNeil scored 16 times at almost a goal every other game.

We've detected that you are using AdBlock Plus or some other adblocking software which is preventing the page from fully loading. They would only surrender this position for a brief spell just after Christmas and only then because their fantastic cup runs left them with a batch of fixtures to make up. Hereford finished bottom of the Second Division the following season despite McNeil scoring nearly a goal every other game. Graham kept in touch after he went to Watford and Aston Villa and then being the England manager showed how good he was as a manager.

Having gone into the dressing room, the players decided to have a look at the pitch and what a shock, 40-odd thousand fans were already in the ground and it was full! I didn't remember it was only one season, but I think he was a bit of a rebel so perhaps our manager couldn't handle him. We went into the dressing room and had a chat, but when we walked out to look at the pitch, I don’t think anyone could quite believe there were 40,000 people inside the stadium. Something had to be done because the club was going down the same old road, I tried to get money for new players but was told none was available.The magic of the Cup was a spell McNeil still conjured up with goals against Tottenham, Chelsea and Brian Clough’s European Cup champions Nottingham Forest - as well as a third round third replay winner over West Ham. The highlight of McNeil’s time at Northampton came early on as the club were drawn at home to Manchester United in the F.

It is noticable that this profile has contained more figures and less description than any other done on this site so far which is as it should be.They played brilliantly when they came to us, but it’s ironic that a corner flag falling down twice helped us score a goal.