Missing McDiarmid Park to Meet Martin O’Neill

I’m fortunate at the moment not to miss many Celtic games, but Sunday was an exception. Just over 48 hours after returning from Rome and a very special detour – more to follow on that if I can steal the time from somewhere else – I have to pass up on the offer of tickets for the trip to Perth, although a grateful son seized the moment to travel up with my ever-present daughter and make sure the Corr CSC was fully represented. “No loss what a son gains,” he says through gritted teeth!

Why? Well, Nicky Hood had invited me to spend an afternoon with the wonderful Martin O’Neill at the Parkville Hotel in Blantyre, adding the rider that I can set up a Celtic Star bookstall if I fancy it. Three weeks before Christmas. My new book just published on Celtic Star Books. A no brainer.

So, by noon on Sunday, I’m all set up and watching the Celts kick-off in Perth on a television in the corner. The place is packed out and the place erupts as Celtic take an early lead, only for an offside flag to quickly deflate spirits. The snatches of the game I can see between chats with book-buyers don’t inspire confidence that today will be a good day, and the mood is quite different by half-time. Perhaps I didn’t need to bring so many books!.

Anyway, all’s well that ends well as a second-half fightback brings us the necessary three points and the world is suddenly a better place.

A compere continues the feelgood atmosphere with a routine of jokes that make mine seem suddenly acceptable. Then, around 2.30pm, there is a standing ovation and accompanying singsong as the legend that is Martin O’Neill makes his entrance, like a boxer approaching the ring.

He is still rightly adored, some two decades after his incredible team gave me the best experiences of my Celtic-supporting life. What a time that was to follow the Hoops. Magical.

Martin is in sensational form. I’ve heard many of the stories before but even so, his delivery makes you laugh all over again. And before he launches into his routine, there is a very special moment for me, as I have the opportunity of a quick word whilst he awaits the first of the table groups to appear for the obligatory photo sessions.

I have packaged a couple of our books as a small gesture of friendship and thanks. Both are relevant to Martin and I’m hopeful he’ll read and appreciate them. First up is the official Harry Hood biography, Twice As Good, written in conjunction with Harry’s family and highly appropriate given the venue, one of his hugely popular Lisini Pub company venues, and in the week when we celebrate the golden jubilee of Harry’s historic Hampden hat-trick against Rangers.

The connection with Martin? Well, as a kid, Martin’s own football hero was Irish defender Charlie Hurley, who just so happened to be the Sunderland captain when Harry played at Roker Park in the mid 1960s, between his two spells with Clyde. I remembered that connection at the time of writing Twice as Good, and here is the extract that covers that…

The story had a happy albeit a curious, suspiciously convenient ending. The following month, whilst in South America for the Chile World Cup finals, England selector and Sunderland chairman Syd Collings had an informal chat with Irish FA President Harry Cavan. By October 1962, the Irish association had lifted the ban and Sunderland manager Alan Brown had paid £27,500 to bring Johnny Crossan to Wearside, the Derry man making his debut in a 6-2 victory over Grimsby Town at Roker Park in November, just three weeks before Harry Hood made his own senior breakthrough for Clyde at Ibrox.

Two years later, Sunderland’s poor start to the 1964/65 season now prompted action at boardroom level. Overtures were made to Rangers to sign former Scotland captain Eric Caldow, and when that approach was rejected by the Ibrox board, the Rokerites turned to Jock Stein’s Hibernian to agree a £36,000 fee for Irish international left-back John Parke. Sunderland then headed due west to improve their attacking options by paying £26,000 to Clyde for their talented teenage forward Harry Hood.

A contract was duly signed on Monday, 9 November 1964, between Sunderland FC secretary Edward Marshall, on behalf of the club, and Henry Anthony Hood of 50 Gartons Road, Glasgow N1. Harry agreed “to play in an efficient manner and to the best of his ability for the club for the period of two years from that day until 30 June 1966.” Harry would receive a £2,000 signing-on fee and his basic weekly wage would be £40, and there were financial incentives for finishing in the top six of the First Division and progression in the FA and League Cups, all based on appearances.

Harry would also qualify for “talent money” at the rate of £20 per League point gained where he played and “normal match bonuses according to rules.” The contract was witnessed by Chief Scout, Charles Ferguson and offered the club an option of extending for a further two years from 30 June 1966.

Just 24 hours after putting pen to paper, Harry watched his new side in action for the first time, the League Cup providing a welcome diversion from the First Division struggle as the fourth-round draw sent Sunderland to Coventry on Tuesday, 10 November 1964. Having already beaten two top-flight sides in West Ham United and Blackpool – with their combined trio of future World Cup-winners Martin Peters, Geoff Hurst and Alan Ball – Sunderland were favourites to dispose of Jimmy Hill’s Coventry City, newly promoted to the Second Division.

The tie would not go to script, however, the Sky Blues 4-0 up at Highfield Road before a second-half John O’Hare double put some semblance of respectability on the scoreline. The following evening, back in North London, a Scottish international select beat Tottenham Hotspur 6-2 at White Hart Lane in a testimonial match for John White, the opening goal for the hosts scored by Hearts Tommy White, brother of the late Spurs and Scotland star.

The silver lining in the Sunderland cloud would be the introduction of Harry Hood at centre-forward for the visit of Burnley the following Saturday, 14 November 1964, the new signing one of four Scots in their forward line as Johnny Crossan found himself the man left out after the midweek cup defeat in the West Midlands. The teams lined up as follows in front of 36,000 supporters at Roker Park.

Sunderland: Jim Montgomery; Colin Nelson & Len Ashurst; Dave Elliott, Dickie Rooks & Jimmy McNab; Brian Usher, George Herd, Harry Hood, John O’Hare & George Mulhall.

Burnley: Adam Blacklaw; Fred Smith & Mick Buxton; Brian O’Neil, John Talbut & Brian Miller; Willie Morgan, Andy Lochhead, Ray Pointer, Arthur Bellamy & John Price.

Scots were very much to the fore as Andy Lochhead gave the visitors an early lead before George Herd and George Mulhall beat international goalkeeper Adam Blacklaw to give Sunderland a 2-1 lead at the interval. A Dickie Rooks penalty stretched that lead before boyhood Rokerite Arthur Bellamy ended the scoring at 3-2. It was a winning start to his life as a full-time footballer which left an indelible impression on the young Harry.

“I was absolutely stunned when I ran out at Roker Park for my debut. Remember, in my career I would ultimately play in front of huge raucous crowds in Glasgow, but I’ve never forgotten what the noise and atmosphere was like inside Roker Park.”

There was no raucous crowd in the east end of Glasgow that same afternoon. Having failed to lure Harry to Parkhead, Celtic switched their attention to Falkirk, signing inside-forward Hugh Maxwell for £15,000 on Friday, 13 November 1964. The move was pretty much ignored in the media, thus leading to some puzzled looks amongst the home supporters in the 15,000 crowd who rolled up the next day to find a tall redhead wearing the number 10 shorts as Celts lost 2-0 to Dundee.

The transfer date would prove to be a suitable omen for the new Bhoy. He had scored all seven goals for Falkirk in a 7-3 win over Clyde at Brockville in one of Harry’s early appearances for the club, however, he would manage only two in eight matches for Celtic before joining St Johnstone at the end of that season. Strangely, life after Harry for Clyde would continue with another trip to Brockville, Dave Souter plucked recently from his former club Arbroath by Shawfield manager John Prentice and handed the number nine jersey for his debut. There would be no repeat of the 7-3 mauling of two years earlier, as the match ended goalless.

Harry’s first away appearance in English football came seven days later, Saturday, 21 November 1964, at Bramall Lane against Sheffield United. The Sunderland selection committee made six changes to the team which had beaten Burnley the previous week, with debuts for two Irishmen, John Parke, their recent signing from Hibernian, and winger Billy Campbell, a £7,000 acquisition from Belfast’s Distillery. There was also a return for three other Irish stars, Martin Harvey, club captain Charlie Hurley – future Distillery midfielder Martin O’Neill’s boyhood idol – and Johnny Crossan, as Sunderland lined up as follows.

Sunderland: Jim Montgomery; Cec Irwin & John Parke; Martin Harvey, Charlie Hurley & Jimmy McNab;
Billy Campbell, George Herd, Harry Hood, Johnny Crossan & George Mulhall.

The hosts fielded future Leeds United and England striker Mick Jones, albeit he was not on target as they ran out comfortable 3-0 winners on the day, to inflict a ninth successive defeat on the road for the Wearsiders. Sunderland were a goal down within the first minute, then played for most of the second half with 10 men, after Hurley was forced from the field with a recurrence of his thigh problem.

The second book given to Martin on Sunday is our most recent publication, Majic, Stan and The King of Japan, released just a few weeks ago and covering Gordon Strachan’s remarkable double-trophy-winning first season as Celtic manager, when of course he succeeded…Martin O’Neill. I had the pleasure of discussing the book with Martin a few months ago and he was kind enough to give me a couple of quotations which we then used on the cover, together with a photo of us both which I treasure. The opening chapter of the book covers Martin’s final days as Celtic manager, and here’s a snippet as a bit of a taster if you fancy ordering a copy for Christmas…

AN EXTRACT FROM MAJIC, STAN AND THE KING OF JAPAN…

The fallout from Black Sunday, when the League title was surrendered at Fir Park, Motherwell, to two last-gasp Scott McDonald goals, was still being painfully endured and analysed by those with Celtic in their hearts, when the worst-kept secret in Scottish football was confirmed in the mainstream media. It was Wednesday, 25 May 2005. Lisbon Day, as if the knife required twisting. After five years at the helm, Martin O’Neill would be leaving Celtic after Saturday’s Scottish Cup Final against Dundee United.

The news was neither unexpected nor welcome. Martin’s wife, Geraldine, had been battling a serious illness, lymphoma, for some time and he had decided to take some time away from football to focus on supporting her and the rest of his family through this most worrying of periods.

For once, the normally-expansive O’Neill kept his statement brief and succinct.

“I am leaving Celtic purely for personal reasons and I am extremely sorry to be departing in such circumstances. We have had discussions for some weeks, as we awaited certain biopsy results. We have had suspicions in recent weeks, and that has taken it to a different level but she [Geraldine] wouldn’t like me to go into too much detail. We had some good news at the back end of last year, but she is not so clever at the moment.

“I don’t have a monopoly of bad news, but it is the correct thing to do. She has stood with me for quite some time, so this is the right thing. I would like to thank sincerely Dermot Desmond and the Celtic board for giving me the opportunity to manage this fantastic club five years ago. It has been an honour and a privilege to have served the club and its supporters during that time and [to have]been a part of Celtic’s history.”

Celtic chairman Brian Quinn spoke of his “great disappointment, reluctance and regret, whilst fully respecting the reasons behind the decision,” whilst Peter Lawwell commented on the “consummate professionalism” of O’Neill and his backroom team, the Parkhead chief executive then adding;

“Martin has taken Celtic on a remarkably thrilling and successful adventure over the past five years and, as well as achieving tremendous domestic success, has helped put Celtic back where it belongs – on the European stage.”

It was difficult to disagree with those sentiments, as somewhat bucking the normal trend, a manager left his post at Celtic Park without acrimony. Whilst the previous week had ripped the heart and soul out of the Celtic family, for the most part it had been a very special journey with the man from Derry.

Three days later, the Martin O’Neill era drew to a close with an uninspiring 1-0 victory over Dundee United at Hampden, courtesy of an early Alan Thompson free-kick. The goal was in keeping with the rest of the game, untidy and instantly forgettable, the ball eventually going into the net off defender Gary Kenneth, after Bobo Balde had either dummied or missed Thompson’s original cross, depending on your view of the big Guinean.

Late on in the match, there was another less-than-memorable Cup Final moment, as we had to share the indignity of Chris Sutton as he slipped before shanking his spot-kick high over Tony Bullock’s crossbar. Twelve years down the line, a cruel twist of fate would see a big Australian midfielder replicate Sutton’s feat at the same end of Hampden, triggering the end of another managerial regime at Parkhead.

Future Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald then blasted a long-range shot off the Celtic crossbar to be denied his own ‘Roy of the Rovers’ moment, the last action of the 2005 Scottish Cup final. Seconds later, referee John Rowbotham signalled the end of the match and Martin’s tenure at Parkhead.

Archibald would later succeed winning Celtic captain Jackie McNamara in the Firhill dugout, having worked under him there as a player-coach until January 2013, when Jackie resigned to take up the manager’s job at, rather ironically, Tannadice. Gordon Chisholm’s beaten United side that day was skippered by current Kilmarnock boss Derek McInnes and included two future Celts, Mark Wilson and Barry Robson.

Twelve months earlier, McNamara had deputised for injured Hoops skipper Paul Lambert, leading the dark-green-clad Celts out at Hampden for the 2004 Scottish Cup Final for the great Henrik Larsson’s last competitive match for the club. Jackie then shared the winners’ podium with the two-goal Swede, as Martin O’Neill’s second League and Cup Double was secured. Today, poignantly, by now appointed Celtic captain as Lambert turned his sights on a coaching career post-Parkhead, Jackie stood aside to allow O’Neill, John Robertson and Steve Walford the opportunity to display the famous old trophy to the massed ranks of the Celtic support.

All four men would enjoy a last hurrah at Celtic Park just 24-hours later, as the Republic of Ireland provided the opposition in McNamara’s testimonial game, the only goal of that match scored in stoppage-time by another future Celt, Robbie Keane. I guess only Jackie himself will know if his own farewell was expected. I remember being surprised when it was announced that he had joined Glenn Hoddle’s Wolverhampton Wanderers the following week.

In 50 years of attending Scottish Cup Finals, I cannot recall an atmosphere such as this one after a win. When Celtic lift a trophy, without exception, I find myself shedding a tear as I think about my dad and how much I wish he was sitting beside me to share this moment. To make it even more special. To see him look into the eyes of my kids and think, “I started this.” Whilst that dagger pierced, as it always did, this was a different kind of sadness.

For those of us of a certain vintage, that ‘Celtic sixth-sense’ was already kicking in. As we watched Martin and his backroom staff take a final, emotional walk around the Hampden track, the Irishman’s hand in the air in acknowledgement of the outpouring of love and support, there was that horrible, ominous feeling that something very special was ending.

The era of Larsson, Sutton and Hartson taking on Europe’s finest defenders, of 6-2 against ‘the benchmark’ on the day the world changed, of the genius Lubo scoring incredible goals with both feet, and of marching with O’Neill into the Champions League then all the way to Seville, my dad, the veteran of Lisbon, hanging on for a third and last European final. There was a chapter inevitably closing on all of this, Celtic and life as always tied together in an unbreakable bond. There was a feeling of fear and dread in my heart at what next season would bring, in comparison to such magical heights.

It would take time before I was ready to contemplate the future with real positivity.

With enthusiasm.

To understand and remember that Celtic FC has previous, in terms of recovering from major setbacks to go in search of new glories.

We idolise the great legends of the past, enjoy the stars of the present then await the emergence of the next generation, those who will thrill us and leave their own mark for the supporters of the future. The Celtic rite of passage, on the pitch, just as it is with the support.

There would be a time for reflection, as we regrouped and re-organised post-O’Neill.

Then it would be a time for new heroes as, once again, we willed those wearing the green-and-white Hoops of our beloved Celtic to make new memories and take on that history, to remain the dominant force in Scotland in the third millennium.

I take the opportunity in a quiet moment of giving Martin both books and explaining the context. He seems genuinely moved at the gesture, which makes my day, as does the sight of him continually going over to flick through the books between his photo sessions with the supporters.

I have taken four of our books for sale on the day, Harry Hood – Twice as Good, Majic, Stan and the King of Japan and Invincible, the story of Brendan Rodgers’ incredible first season at Celtic Park – plus Matthew Marr’s debut offering, Bould Bhoys: Glory to their Name, which tells the fascinating tale of the club’s first-ever League title success, 52 flags ago!

The thing that always strikes me is how passionate Celtic supporters are about our club’s incredible history, and this afternoon is no exception. A procession of folk approach me throughout the day, buying gifts for family and friends, and the dialogue is superb. All have a story to tell, of Dad’s favourite player or their son’s hero. There are lots of Harry’s book shifting for the former, which is lovely given the context, and Invincibles for the younger clientele. There are three generations of the same family all with the same name and all buying books! So a few happy Celts hopefully come Christmas morning.

It’s been a great day all round, three points, lots of fun and of course, more books making their way across the Celtic family. Still time, of course, for you to solve your own Christmas problem for the Celts in your life.

If any Celtic Supporters Club is having an event and would like us to bring our bookstall along, we’d be delighted to do so. And, of course, you can check out our online bookstall at celticstarbooks.com/shop or you can pick up our books in the official Celtic outlets, or if you’re an Amazon, Kindle or Waterstones shopper then you’ll find our books there too.

Now let’s get organised for the Hibs game on Wednesday night. Normal service is resumed. And finally thanks to everyone who has supported Celtic Star Books this year. Hail Hail,

Matt Corr

Follow Matt on Twitter/X @Boola_vogue.