McNab began his career in 1972 with
Greenock Morton where he made 14 appearances before 1974, becoming the club's youngest ever professional. He was signed by
Tottenham Hotspur and became their youngest ever first team player at age 16. He made 72 appearances for Spurs, scoring 3 goals. He played for the
Scotland national team at the U-15, U-18 and U-21 levels. In November 1978 he was transferred to
Bolton Wanderers for a fee of £250,000, making 35 appearances and scoring 4 goals, before
Brighton and Hove Albion acquired his services for the fee of £220,000 in February 1980. During 1982 he played in loan spells at
Leeds United and
Portsmouth. Then in 1983 he signed for £35,000 for
Manchester City with whom he stayed until 1990. He was arguably City's player of the eighties, being voted Player of the Year in both the 1986–87 and 1988–89 seasons. A skilful and very combative defensive midfielder, Neil inspired a young team to promotion from the Second Division in
1989. He played 221 league matches for City and scored 16 goals. He left for
Tranmere Rovers in January 1990 for £125,000, the third six-figure move of his career, and played over 100 first-team games for them, including two
Associate Members' Cup finals at
Wembley; winning one of them in 1990. He subsequently also enjoyed spells playing for
Huddersfield Town,
Ayr United,
Darlington,
Derry City,
Witton Albion, and the
Long Island Rough Riders in the USA. Made his Derry debut in October 1993. ==Coaching and management career==