Martin O'Neill

Ex Managers can go in here right? especially legendary ones....

Just watching the 2000/01 Treble DVD, still love the man gave us fantastic memories. Had a wee bit of a tear in my eye listening to him talk.

Mind when he left us, it was due to his wife's health at the time. Was that the only reason he left? Was there any other reasons behind him leaving? I was soo gutted when he left.

 

Can't Believe he's 65 today

 

* sake, 65.

Was quite a young manager when he was unveiled as well.

 

Irish manager now, what a great man, loved him at Celtic too obviously

 

Yes, we got beat, we were cheated, but this will be one of my favourite post match interviews of all time. The heart and desire he had and what he must have instilled in the players. Pure Celtic Passion. What a ghuy.

 

On This day in 2000 Martin becomes Celtic boss

 

Brought something very special back to Celtic and should never be forgotten, * bless you Martin.

 

Legend.

 

Think that was the last time Andy Walker defended Celtic

 

Also when Pat Nevin decided to chuck us for Hibernian.

 

He also left because, if you look at it, the board gave him sweet * all to spend following the UEFA Cup Final. From a 20-year high position of strength, we decided it was time to save money.

 

Back in 2003 & 2004 we were at the very very least a champions league quarter final side. Pity we never pushed on and consolidated.

 

Following the 2003 UEFA Cup Final, we spent nothing that summer and in the following summer brought in a loan and a free transfer.

Despicable really.

At least, finally, they've seen the light now with Brendan. You want big success, you have to spend big these days. Simple.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-40495109

 

Loved him, loved his passion and charm. If I was to listen to him and Brandan talking on a loop I'd chug masel blind

 

THERE is the possibility of it feeling akin to the morning after the night before.

As Celtic Park looks to celebrate the decade of service from their captain, Scott Brown, there could be something a little extra to fuel the party spirit. Coming the day after the William Hill Scottish Cup final, former Celtic manager Martin O’Neill has voiced his hope that he will be raising a glass to more than just the contribution made to the Parkhead club by Brown when he brings his Republic of Ireland side to Glasgow to play in the testimonial match.

The real fizz of the afternoon may well be provided by what has gone before as Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic look to hone in on an unprecedented back-to-back Treble.

“I understand that the game comes straight on the back of the Scottish Cup final – wouldn’t it be fantastic to be there the day after Celtic win another Treble?” said O’Neill. “I understand that would break some new ground where Scottish football is concerned and I am sure the old ground would be rocking, absolutely rocking.

“Brendan, of course, won’t be worrying about that just now but whatever happens it is bound to be a fabulous occasion. It will be a wonderful afternoon regardless but it would be lovely to come back and see that [a second successive Treble], wouldn’t it?”

O’Neill, of course, knows full well what it takes to deliver a clean sweep, just as he knows just what it is to break fresh ground at the club. It was the Irishman who delivered Celtic’s first Treble success since Jock Stein, who took Celtic into the group stages of the Champions League for the first time, who led them to a European final after a 33-year absence and who oversaw an unbeaten Celtic side domestically on their own stomping ground in a spell that ran from 2001 until 2004.

In short, it was O’Neill who firmly led Celtic out of Rangers’ shadow.

Whether Brendan Rodgers delivers a back-to-back Treble or not, O’Neill will be assured of a reception every bit as appreciative as that bestowed to his countryman; “ah, that’s kind, that’s kind but it was a long time ago now…” trailed O’Neill when he was asked about walking into a hero’s welcome.

The 66-year-old returned to Celtic Park in 2014 for a European Championship qualifier, but this is the first time he will return to an audience made up exclusively of Celtic fans. O’Neill has been invited back by the club at times over the years for high-profile games but has opted to allow others to take their time in the limelight, although he was part of the 50-year Lisbon Lion celebrations at the Hydro last summer.

“I am absolutely looking forward to coming back,” he said. “I loved my years at Celtic. It is a special club, which should not sound patronising at all. It’s a fairly lengthy period of time since I was working at Celtic – 13 years ago if you can believe that – and time moves on but it will be lovely to come back.


“What I have really enjoyed seeing from a distance is the vibrancy and energy that is back at the club – the place seems full and there has been a good team on the park for everyone to get behind with a really good way of playing football.

“But what I love about Celtic is the chance to see the guys I worked with at that time. Watching so many of them go on and do well has been really satisfying. I know how much it meant to Neil [Lennon] to get the chance to manage the club and he is doing wonderfully well. Hopefully there will be a chance to catch up with him. I love that.

“There are so many other memories of my time at the football club. It was a really enjoyable time in my career. The chance to work with Henrik [Larsson], the man himself, and Lubo [Moravcik] – these guys were such a pleasure. It was a fantastic time in my career and I think it says something about the club that you have players of the ilk of Henrik and Lubo who wouldn’t have known much at all really about Celtic before they arrived but who retain a real and genuine affection for the club long after their time has come to an end.

“But, as I say, what I have enjoyed seeing lately is the way that Brendan has brought a real sense of urgency and energy to the club. You can tell the lift the place got just with him coming in and he has done tremendously well.”

O’Neill, believes too, that his Republic of Ireland side are a particularly good fit for Celtic given the history of the Parkhead club.

“There remains to this day significant numbers of Irish fans who travel across to watch Celtic and the club has huge links with the Irish community,” he said.

“There is a historical reason for that. The club was set up by Brother Walfrid to initially support the Irish immigrant community at that time. The charitable arm of the club remains influential to this day and this game, which I am sure will be well backed, will raise significant funds for charity.”






AS THE mercury hit the mid-90s in unseasonably boiling temperatures, it was more than just the sun which scorched Celtic; the 2003 UEFA Cup final in Seville still smoulders for former Celtic manager Martin O’Neill.

Almost fifteen years on from that May date and his immediate observations from the night remain unchanged; “I don’t care what anyone says, we should never have lost it.”

It was the season that promised everything. A clean domestic sweep, a European trophy. It would be wrong to claim that Celtic ended up entirely empty-handed for although they lost out at the final hurdle on a four-pronged silverware assault, they won a credibility and respect on the continent that had been posted missing long before O’Neill’s arrival at the club.

But still, it rankles. Twice O’Neill watched as Celtic came from behind against Jose Mourinho’s Porto only to lose to an injury-time Derlei goal after Hoops defender Bobo Balde had been dismissed.

“I have never watched the whole game back,” he said. “It is still too hard to watch. I have watched sections of it back, certain minutes, but I have never sat and watched it from start to finish. Of course, it is still there, the sense of frustration, the sense of injustice.

“People will tell me that over the piece we were beaten by the better team but I am not having any of that. We should have won that game and against a team, the bulk of whom were still there, when they went on to win the Champions League the following season.

“Henrik Larsson was magnificent that night. He really was quite outstanding. But he was not alone. We had a number of players out there whom I always felt just never deserved to be on the losing side given what we put into that game and that season.”

For the hordes of Celtic fans who descended on the Moorish town of Seville there was a sense of just how special the occasion itself was. The game was the third European final in the club’s history and now, in the current climate of ever-widening financial chasms, it is difficult to envisage that there will ever be another.

A huge part of the reason why Brendan Rodgers was brought to Celtic was to get them back into the elite playground of the UEFA Champions League group stages. He has successfully led Celtic through the perilous route of qualification games and into the lucrative group stages at both times of asking but once there it has been a bruising experience.

The gulf in quality and resources has been particularly sobering as any of the players who trudged off the pitch in the Nou Camp following the harrowing 7-0 defeat to Barcelona would testify, as would those who endured the 7-1 walloping dished out by PSG this season.

For a short time they live in the same group but realistically few would quibble that they belong to different worlds.

Bridging a way into it is something that O’Neill believes will be a perennial challenge for any Celtic manager.

“I know it was a difficult season in terms of the Champions League but it is so, so tough when you are in that environment,” he said.

“Celtic are doing fantastically well at the minute and they have dominated domestically but I think what everyone craves is that European respectability. You want to have that credibility in the best tournament on offer in club football but it is not an easy thing to do by any stretch of the imagination.

“But a good series of results and performances in the group and it works wonders. You sense the belief in the players, in the crowd, you feel the expectations rise and top players really respond to that.”

O’Neill’s European style was far more pragmatic than Rodgers’. In the time that has passed since O’Neill was bounding along Celtic’s touchline, socks tucked into tracksuit bottoms, relentlessly cajoling his side, the gap between the haves and have-nots has become dispiritingly wide.

The club’s history and relationship with European football will ensure that there is always a desire to hold court in that arena, no matter the challenges it offers. This summer Celtic fans will look out the Gaviscon to line the stomachs as they brace themselves for four rounds of qualifiers, a journey more gruelling than the group stage itself.

“Crucially, you always – always – need just a little bit of luck,” said O’Neill.

“I remember some our matches in the Champions League over the years. We were a minute away from qualifying for the knockout stages in Lyon when big Bobo [Balde] handled ridiculously and we went out because of a Juninho penalty that came with the last kick of the ball.

“Even that first time in the Champions League when we had nine points but still didn’t go through. The margins are so desperately fine at that level.

“My first challenge in Europe was to get Celtic through a qualifier just to get into the old UEFA Cup.

“The next big thing for us was going on and winning the Treble that season and as I said it was an amazing thing to achieve given what had gone on the season before. But to go from that to putting Ajax out in a Champions League play-off just 12 months down the line was an incredible jump.

“We brought in quality players and players who could cope with the pressure and intensity of those games. But also, you need just a little bit of luck along the way.”

 

I liked him a wee bit more than Brendan but not as much as Tommy