ONE of our best-known football commentators who be-came the scourge of managers, chairmen and supporters will hang up his mike today after a controversial 30-year career.
Gerry McNee, dubbed the arch-polemicist of Scottish football, will give his last broadcast for Radio Clyde as new league champions Celtic take on Rangers at Celtic Park.
McNee, 56, began commentating in April 1974 and has witnessed a huge change in both broadcasting and football.
He said: ''The standard of football has definitely gone down. Scottish football, I am sure everyone would agree, has worsened over the years for a variety of reasons. Teachers stopped taking pupils for football after school some years ago and that was a big factor. The standard of coaching has also not been good.''
McNee's start in journalism came when he joined Express Newspapers in April 1964 but it was 1974 before he turned his talents to football. In a tumultuous career, he has managed to fall foul of most major figures in football from Sir Alex Ferguson and Andy Roxburgh to Berti Vogts and David Murray.
He said: ''I have never been too popular with either side of the Old Firm but I think it proves that I have attempted to do the job honestly.''
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