Neal was an old-school manager, who gave fans the free-flowing football they cried out for.
He was loved just as much in the dressing room as ex-Wrexham and Chelsea players have all spoke highly over the years on the wise, old boss from the North East, who passed away aged 82 in 2014.
He wasn’t a bad player either having clocked up 400 appearances listing Aston Villa, Hull City, Swindon Town and Southend United as his former clubs.
But it was as a boss that Neal really excelled leading Wrexham to promotion in only his second season in charge in 1970.
Reds’ legends Arfon Griffiths, Gareth Davies and Eddie May were in the team that secured runners-up spot in Division Four that season.
But it was off-the-field where Neal started to work his magic.
Folklore claims that the north East - and Neal was from Seaton in County Durham - was a hotbed for football.
But Neal was keen to nurture the north Wales talent of Joey Jones, Dave Smallman, Mickey Thomas and Eddie Niedzwiecki.
He also scoured young players from across the border too, bringing in Liverpool lads like Billy Ashcroft and Graham Whittle.
Those talented teenagers would gel into a Wrexham side that reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in 1974 while Neal also led Wrexham into Europe thanks to their successes in the Welsh Cup.
Middlesbrough, Crystal Palace and Southampton were all on Neal’s giant-killing hit list in the FA Cup that season while they reached the last eight of the European Cup Winners Cup in 1976 before losing out 2-1 on aggregate to Belgian giants Anderlecht.
Wrexham were so good to watch that legendary Liverpool boss Bill Shankly became a Racecourse regular after leaving Anfield.
Neal saw that as one of the biggest compliments ever and already his name was being banded about at much bigger clubs across the country.
Had Wrexham not blown their chance of promotion by losing the last two games of the 1976/77 season Neal may have stayed put.
But the lure of a move back to his north east homeland was too good to turn down and Neal took the Middlesbrough job, taking Big Billy Ashcroft with him in £100,000-plus deal.
That money paid for his Racecourse replacement, Arfon Griffiths, to bring in Dixie McNeil and Dai Davies who were the final pieces in the jigsaw of a squad that would help Wrexham to promotion 12 months later in a memorable season that also saw them lift the Welsh Cup and reach the quarter-finals of both the FA and League Cup.
Neal had succeeded England World Cup winner Jack Charlton at Middlesbrough where star players like Graeme Souness and David Mills moving on didn’t help his cause at Ayresome Park.
After a four-year stint it was time to move on and Neal headed off to Chelsea, replacing another ex-World Cup winner Geoff Hurst in the Stamford Bridge hot-seat.
Flamboyant owner Ken Bates had just bought Chelsea for £1, taking on the club’s debt as part of his agreement.
Making money on players and not spending it on them was the ethos of many a club in the cash-starved Eighties when even the streets of west London weren’t always paved with gold.
The best tribute to what Neal achieved at Chelsea was best illustrated in the club’s statement following his death 12 years ago.
“It is no exaggeration to suggest there might not be a Chelsea Football Club today had he not made such a success of dealing with crisis and getting the team back on its feet,” the Blues tribute read.
Mickey Thomas and Eddie Niedzwiecki, who followed Neal to Chelsea, were quick to praise his work.
Goalkeeper Niedzwiecki was plucked from Wrexham, whose fall from grace in 1983 had been as rapid as their rise just five years earlier.
Thomas had many ports of call before ending up at Chelsea where Joey Jones had been for a couple of seasons.
“I was going to Sheffield United,” recalled Niedzwiecki. “Ian Porterfield was manager there and Wrexham were falling down the leagues.
“Then I got a call from Joey Jones. John Neal had taken over at Chelsea. Joey had left Wrexham in a cut-price deal and I had so much respect for him and, of course, John Neal.
“He was like a father figure and he always had belief in you.
“Chelsea was a great move. My debut was at home to Derby and we won 5-0. I was one of six signings John had brought in during the summer, Pat Nevin, Joe McLaughlin, Nigel Spackman, John Hollins and Kerry Dixon also arrived.
“Then Mickey Thomas joined us and, yes, I was part of those journeys from North Wales to London. With the M40 not being around in those days, we became regulars in the Little Chef in Banbury!
“We started with crowds of about 17,000 but by the end of the season, 40,000-plus were there. The atmosphere at Stamford Bridge was superb. The pitch was crap and with the ground being so open, the wind didn’t half get up. It made life tough for keepers.”
Not that Niedzwiecki had too many problems in the 1983/84 season as they pipped Sheffield Wednesday to the title losing just four games all season.
And after a knee injury forced him to quit the game aged 27, Niedzwiecki joined the coaching team at Chelsea where Mark Hughes - the Wrexham-born Wales international - became a top player.
“Mark came to Chelsea - that was the team he supported - and we became good friends,” added Niedzwiecki, who became Hughes’ reliable right hand man at various club across the country.
Thomas also recalls great tales of his time at Chelsea.
“Joey was legendary at Chelsea. The fans loved him,” said Thomas.
“I took him back to Chelsea for a fans meeting a few years ago and I remember him coming back into the car and saying ‘I can’t believe how much they love me’. And I told him that everyone loves Joey Jones and especially that fisted salute!”
Thomas described Neal as his mentor saying he always remembers the wily boss telling him he’s make a professional footballer out of him and that his team talks were pure simplicity... just go out and enjoy yourselves!
Neal also used to tell his title-winning team to ‘just give the ball to wee Pat (Pat Nevin)’ but most of all he had total faith in his players.
Thomas and Jones’ days of driving from north Wales to Chelsea every day wouldn’t be allowed now but Thomas knew that Neal trusted them.
“Can you imagine that happening these days?” added Thomas.
“John let us do it because he trusted us and knew that as long we did what he wanted out on the pitch on a Saturday afternoon, it was okay.”
Then there was the tale of Thomas and Jones on a Friday night before a Saturday home game.
The duo had ended up at a pop-star party after receiving an impromptu invite from George Michael.
“We didn’t think he’d get wind of it but John Neal calls us into his office and says ‘what were you two up to last night?’” added Thomas.
“‘You’ve broke club rules and I should be taking action. But I’ll let you play on one condition. My son is a big fan of Wham so give me one of those CDs!’ That was John. He was brilliant and we did okay that day and beat West Ham 3-1!”
Thomas, now a club ambassador at Wrexham, will be at The Racecourse on Saturday as the Reds try and write another chapter in their FA Cup folklore.
It was 34 years ago that Thomas smashed in a fabulous free-kick as Wrexham beat Arsenal 2-1 in the one of the biggest FA Cup shocks of all-time.
“As soon as it went in there was only one person I wanted to celebrate with - and that was Joey,” added Thomas. “We’d roomed together in Rossett Hall the night before and had a couple of Guinnesses. We just talked football as we always did and had a laugh.”