The Celtic Star’s Exclusive interview with former Celtic manager Martin O’Neill: “We had the time of our lives in Glasgow”…
I’ve just had the most enjoyable conversation with Martin O’Neill. The former Celtic manager has a well-earned reputation for his razor-sharp wit, often slipped in at the end of a sentence where he has been speaking seriously for a few moments about football, providing the most wonderful insight from a career spent at the very top of the game.
No stranger to winning trophies as a player, perhaps most famously those back-to-back European Cups under Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest, for me the greatest achievement of any team outside Celtic, or competing at the highest level for his country, the World Cup, Martin famously skippering the underdog Six Counties to victory over hosts Spain in Valencia in the summer of 1982.
And that success then transferred seamlessly into O’Neill’s illustrious career in management, a promotion and trophy-winning boss at Leicester City, as the Foxes didn’t just hold their own in the top-flight, they secured four successive top 10 finishes and appeared in three League Cup finals, winning two of those. Martin took Leicester back into Europe for the first time in four decades. Such a CV made him the number one target for Celtic when the Kenny Dalglish/ John Barnes partnership had run its disappointing course. He did not disappoint.
Martin turned the fortunes of the Glasgow giants around completely, leading Celtic to a first domestic Treble then European final in over 30 years, the meeting with Jose Mourinho’s Porto in Seville in May 2003 a bittersweet moment. Two years later, it was all over at Celtic Park for O’Neill, family priorities leading to his decision to step down. Of course, he did so as a winner, his side bouncing back from the crushing disappointment of losing a League title in the dying seconds of the final game to win the Scottish Cup for the third time in five years. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house as he took that final walk around Hampden to say his farewells.
Thankfully, circumstances improved sufficiently to allow Martin to make a return to football management, most notably at Aston Villa – where again he kept his team in the higher echelons of the table and reached yet another Wembley League Cup final – and the Republic of Ireland, whom he led to the Last 16 of Euro 2016, the Irish beating Italy before losing out to hosts France. In recent years, Martin has enjoyed successful careers in punditry and on the speaker circuit, where his name guarantees a heady mixture of both insight and humour.
It was on such an occasion last September that I first had the opportunity to meet the man in person. As a guest of Nicky Hood’s at Dalziel Park, I was invited up to say hello. Like a stuttering teenager I was a bit starstruck to say the least, blurting out that we shared some family history as my great grandparents were from Derry.
Martin immediately took an interest and when I was stuck for the name of the place which my elder cousin had connected to our forefathers, he insisted I call my cousin there and then to join the dots. Cue the most bizarre three-way conversation in a Motherwell hotel room, as Robert and Martin exchange information whilst I hold the mobile up to facilitate the chat. Surreal doesn’t cover it.
Anyway, we are one year down the line on a Zoom call organised by The Celtic Star, and I open up our chat by mentioning that afternoon and, gentleman to the end, Martin says he recalls it well. We’re off to a good start.
What followed next was highly enjoyable, for me at least, as the former Celtic manager shares his thoughts on life at Parkhead and beyond. The seminal moment of his time at Celtic. The background on the two Brazilian World Cup stars who could – and indeed one did – have worn those famous Hoops.
His thoughts on Gordon Strachan’s tenure at Celtic Park and on the three Parkhead stars who left Gordon’s team to follow their old manager to Villa Park. Which one of Strachan’s Celtic acquisitions did he compare to Lubo Moravcik and, of course, what are the chances of seeing Martin in a working capacity once again in Glasgow’s east end.
No spoilers from me. You’ll have to listen in.
Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only Martin O’Neill…
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Matt Corr was ‘Speaking to Boylesports who provide the latest SPFL odds’ with a link to https://www.boylesports.com/sports/football
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2 Doire men shooting the breeze.