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Bruce Rioch has paid tribute to former Wanderers chief scout Ian McNeill, who has passed away at the age of 85.
Responsible for identifying numerous talents who went on to become modern day legends at Burnden Park, McNeill was described by the former Bolton boss as a “great friend with an unparalleled eye for a player.”
McNeill had acted as Rioch’s assistant at Millwall before moving to work in the North West in 1992, where his ability to spot talents from all over Europe helped the club to two promotions and into the Premier League.
“He had a huge influence in what I achieved as a manager,” Rioch told The Bolton News. “It is not always easy to find someone who knows the exact qualities you want in a footballer but, for me, Ian was that person.
“He didn’t care about size, or stature. He was only 5ft 7ins or so and he’d done just fine as a player – but I always said I wanted players with a bit of style and a bit of class, and he was able to produce time and time again.”
An inside-right forward in his playing career with the likes of Aberdeen, Brighton and Leicester City, McNeill later moved into management with two spells at Ross County and two at Wigan Athletic, where he helped the Latics into the Football League for the first time in 1978. He also managed Shrewsbury Town, where he fostered the young careers of John McGinlay, Tony Kelly, Michael Brown and David Moyes.
McNeill went on to assist John Neal at Chelsea, stepping temporarily into the breach as manager after Neal fell into poor health. At Stamford Bridge, he brought in the likes of David Speedie, Kerry Dixon, Gordon Durie and Pat Nevin.
“I remember Ian telling me a story about recommending Pat (Nevin) to Chelsea’s chairman Ken Bates,” Rioch recalled. “He was only part-time at Clyde but the club wanted £90,000 for him. Ken Bates asked him if he was worth it, and would he put his house on it. Ian just said ‘I put my house on any signing I recommend’. And that’s how he was.
“Some years later we were guests in the boardroom at Bolton and talking about this kid, Cristiano Ronaldo, who had just signed at Manchester United.
“A lot of people thought he was a bit flashy and didn’t have enough substance but Ian piped up and said ‘this boy will be the star of football one day.’ And how right he was.”
Rioch had tried to link-up with McNeill at Middlesbrough but lost his job before the appointment was made. After a spell at The Den, he took him to Burnden with the responsibility of finding players who could suit his style of play.
“Ian lived in Shrewsbury so he’d only come to the club on a Thursday and we’d sit in the office and discuss players, map out the scouting for the week ahead,” he explained.
“He’d worked with John (McGinlay) and Tony (Kelly) before at Shrewsbury and so we knew what we were getting with those two but so often he’d turn around to me and say ‘I’ve got you a player.’ “One day he dragged me down to London to see someone who he’d said had been out of the limelight for a bit, in fact, he’d gone back to Iceland to train to be a lawyer. It was Gudni Bergsson.
“He was playing a reserve game at Crystal Palace and when we’d seen him play they wanted £300,000. We got him for £60,000.
“Another time he wanted me to go down to Southampton’s training ground to see a little right-winger who was struggling to get into their side.
“I trusted him, made the trip, and saw David Lee against QPR. He was excellent.
“We couldn’t afford to buy him at first and had to take him on loan but what a part he played for us, and all because Ian had been keeping his eyes on Southampton’s reserves.”
McNeill’s contacts extended beyond England and it wasn’t long before Wanderers started to reach further afield on his advice.
“He told me about a striker who was scoring goals in Scotland at Dundee United and Aberdeen,” Rioch recalled. “He had such a keen eye for a striker, we could only go and look at him – and, sure enough, we came back having signed Mixu Paatelainen.
“He told me about another striker in Scotland too but when I watched him I said to Ian ‘but there’s nothing on him – he’s a pipe-cleaner!’ “Of course, Owen Coyle proved to be a very capable player and not only that his personality was exactly what we needed at the time.
“Richard Sneekes, Fabian De Freitas, Ian would just have a knack of spotting players who would make a difference for Bolton.”
Rioch recalls two pieces of advice given to him by McNeill which proved invaluable in his Bolton career.
“Ian was terrifically experienced and I enjoyed talking to him about football and valued his opinions on the game,” he said. “But a couple of things he said always stuck with me. The first was that you should collect strikers. It sounds odd and I remember saying to him how difficult it was to keep people happy when they are not in the team. But his opinion was that he’d rather collect strikers and have the options of changing things around than collecting full-backs and only having one way to go.
“The other was that you shouldn’t sacrifice your strikers. A lot of managers will take off a striker for another one – but Ian’s philosophy was to add, rather than subtract.
“Looking back, that piece of advice was invaluable when we played Reading in the play-off final. I could have changed one or both of my strikers but instead we put two more on – leaving us with a front four. It changed the game, it changed everything for us.
“The strikers he had recommended had scored the goals. And I’ll never forget that.”
McNeill continued to work with Wanderers after Rioch left for Arsenal and performed a similar task for Colin Todd, helping to recruit Sasa Curcic, among others.
In 1999, the Scot was quoted by the Eastern Daily Press on his time at Burnden.
"On four of the players I brought in at Bolton - Curcic, Alan Thompson, Nathan Blake and John McGinlay - the club made £10million on top of what we paid for them.”
He moved on to Leeds – discovering young Boavista striker Jimmy Flloyd Hasselbaink for George Graham – and then Norwich, where he was briefly re-united with Rioch.
“He spent so long on the road, it was only when his eyesight started to go that he had to call it a day,” Rioch said. “It wasn’t that he couldn’t see the game, more than the glare of the road became a problem.
“We have always kept in touch with him and his family and in August we went to see him in the care home.
“He was a lovely man who just had a fantastic view on football and what it took to be a footballer. I will miss him.”
McNeill leaves behind a wife, Sheila, a son, Ian, and a daughter, Carole.
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Responsible for identifying numerous talents who went on to become modern day legends at Burnden Park, McNeill was described by the former Bolton boss as a “great friend with an unparalleled eye for a player.”
McNeill had acted as Rioch’s assistant at Millwall before moving to work in the North West in 1992, where his ability to spot talents from all over Europe helped the club to two promotions and into the Premier League.
“He had a huge influence in what I achieved as a manager,” Rioch told The Bolton News. “It is not always easy to find someone who knows the exact qualities you want in a footballer but, for me, Ian was that person.
“He didn’t care about size, or stature. He was only 5ft 7ins or so and he’d done just fine as a player – but I always said I wanted players with a bit of style and a bit of class, and he was able to produce time and time again.”
An inside-right forward in his playing career with the likes of Aberdeen, Brighton and Leicester City, McNeill later moved into management with two spells at Ross County and two at Wigan Athletic, where he helped the Latics into the Football League for the first time in 1978. He also managed Shrewsbury Town, where he fostered the young careers of John McGinlay, Tony Kelly, Michael Brown and David Moyes.
McNeill went on to assist John Neal at Chelsea, stepping temporarily into the breach as manager after Neal fell into poor health. At Stamford Bridge, he brought in the likes of David Speedie, Kerry Dixon, Gordon Durie and Pat Nevin.
“I remember Ian telling me a story about recommending Pat (Nevin) to Chelsea’s chairman Ken Bates,” Rioch recalled. “He was only part-time at Clyde but the club wanted £90,000 for him. Ken Bates asked him if he was worth it, and would he put his house on it. Ian just said ‘I put my house on any signing I recommend’. And that’s how he was.
“Some years later we were guests in the boardroom at Bolton and talking about this kid, Cristiano Ronaldo, who had just signed at Manchester United.
“A lot of people thought he was a bit flashy and didn’t have enough substance but Ian piped up and said ‘this boy will be the star of football one day.’ And how right he was.”
Rioch had tried to link-up with McNeill at Middlesbrough but lost his job before the appointment was made. After a spell at The Den, he took him to Burnden with the responsibility of finding players who could suit his style of play.
“Ian lived in Shrewsbury so he’d only come to the club on a Thursday and we’d sit in the office and discuss players, map out the scouting for the week ahead,” he explained.
“He’d worked with John (McGinlay) and Tony (Kelly) before at Shrewsbury and so we knew what we were getting with those two but so often he’d turn around to me and say ‘I’ve got you a player.’ “One day he dragged me down to London to see someone who he’d said had been out of the limelight for a bit, in fact, he’d gone back to Iceland to train to be a lawyer. It was Gudni Bergsson.
“He was playing a reserve game at Crystal Palace and when we’d seen him play they wanted £300,000. We got him for £60,000.
“Another time he wanted me to go down to Southampton’s training ground to see a little right-winger who was struggling to get into their side.
“I trusted him, made the trip, and saw David Lee against QPR. He was excellent.
“We couldn’t afford to buy him at first and had to take him on loan but what a part he played for us, and all because Ian had been keeping his eyes on Southampton’s reserves.”
McNeill’s contacts extended beyond England and it wasn’t long before Wanderers started to reach further afield on his advice.
“He told me about a striker who was scoring goals in Scotland at Dundee United and Aberdeen,” Rioch recalled. “He had such a keen eye for a striker, we could only go and look at him – and, sure enough, we came back having signed Mixu Paatelainen.
“He told me about another striker in Scotland too but when I watched him I said to Ian ‘but there’s nothing on him – he’s a pipe-cleaner!’ “Of course, Owen Coyle proved to be a very capable player and not only that his personality was exactly what we needed at the time.
“Richard Sneekes, Fabian De Freitas, Ian would just have a knack of spotting players who would make a difference for Bolton.”
Rioch recalls two pieces of advice given to him by McNeill which proved invaluable in his Bolton career.
“Ian was terrifically experienced and I enjoyed talking to him about football and valued his opinions on the game,” he said. “But a couple of things he said always stuck with me. The first was that you should collect strikers. It sounds odd and I remember saying to him how difficult it was to keep people happy when they are not in the team. But his opinion was that he’d rather collect strikers and have the options of changing things around than collecting full-backs and only having one way to go.
“The other was that you shouldn’t sacrifice your strikers. A lot of managers will take off a striker for another one – but Ian’s philosophy was to add, rather than subtract.
“Looking back, that piece of advice was invaluable when we played Reading in the play-off final. I could have changed one or both of my strikers but instead we put two more on – leaving us with a front four. It changed the game, it changed everything for us.
“The strikers he had recommended had scored the goals. And I’ll never forget that.”
McNeill continued to work with Wanderers after Rioch left for Arsenal and performed a similar task for Colin Todd, helping to recruit Sasa Curcic, among others.
In 1999, the Scot was quoted by the Eastern Daily Press on his time at Burnden.
"On four of the players I brought in at Bolton - Curcic, Alan Thompson, Nathan Blake and John McGinlay - the club made £10million on top of what we paid for them.”
He moved on to Leeds – discovering young Boavista striker Jimmy Flloyd Hasselbaink for George Graham – and then Norwich, where he was briefly re-united with Rioch.
“He spent so long on the road, it was only when his eyesight started to go that he had to call it a day,” Rioch said. “It wasn’t that he couldn’t see the game, more than the glare of the road became a problem.
“We have always kept in touch with him and his family and in August we went to see him in the care home.
“He was a lovely man who just had a fantastic view on football and what it took to be a footballer. I will miss him.”
McNeill leaves behind a wife, Sheila, a son, Ian, and a daughter, Carole.
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