Aberdeen by Alex Ferguson. Celtic McNeill returned to a Celtic side who had finished in fifth place in 1977–78. He immediately improved the club's fortunes, as they won the league championship in 1978–79. Celtic clinched the title in their final match of the league season by beating Rangers 4–2, despite having had Johnny Doyle sent off. His five years in charge saw Celtic win three League championships, in 1978–79, 1980–81 and 1981–82, the Scottish Cup in 1979–80 and the League Cup in 1982–83. This period saw Celtic's greatest competition come from the New Firm clubs – Aberdeen, who won the League championship in 1979–80, and Dundee United, who won the title in 1982–83. McNeill is credited with developing young players for Celtic, such as Paul McStay and Charlie Nicholas, and making signings such as Murdo MacLeod and Davie Provan who became key players for the club through the 1980s. However, McNeill found working with Desmond White, Celtic's chairman, very difficult, and felt underpaid and underappreciated. Despite Celtic's successes, by 1983 he was being paid less than the managers of Aberdeen, Dundee United, Rangers and St Mirren. When White sold Nicholas to Arsenal, against McNeill's wishes, McNeill looked for the first available way out, and took up the offer to manage Manchester City. Manchester City and Aston Villa On 30 June 1983 he moved to England to manage Manchester City. Two years before being appointed by City, he had been strongly linked with the manager's job at their city rivals Manchester United, when Ron Atkinson was appointed instead. McNeill secured promotion for City after two seasons in charge (in 1984–85), and oversaw survival in their first season back in the First Division (1985–86). He started the 1986–87 season as manager of Manchester City, but quit in September 1986 to take charge of Aston Villa. When Villa were relegated, after finishing bottom of the First Division in May 1987, McNeill stood down and was replaced by Graham Taylor. Manchester City were also relegated that season. Return to Celtic He then returned to Celtic, and in his first season, 1987–88, the club won the League Championship and Scottish Cup double in their centenary year. Celtic were renowned for scoring late goals that season, and in both the Cup semi-final and final scored late goals to come from behind and win 2–1. Celtic won the Scottish Cup in 1988–89, defeating Rangers 1–0 in the