Martin O'Neill

His era as manager was my favourite ever, always be thankful for that.

 

I keep hearing this from various people. I'm not arguing or disagreeing at all, I'm just curious as to what has prompted stories like this?

 

Watching that ROI team after Euro 2016 until he left. Limited players available was pointed out, but * me, the anti-football, turgid, long-ball tactics didn't even suit the players we have. Coleman, McCarthy, Hendrick, Brady, Long- playing whack and punt football? There wasn't a worse team to watch at international or club level by the end. 0-0 draw with NI at Aviva may have been the worst 90 mins of football I'll ever watch.

 

Aye I remember Billy Connelly doing a show and he spots MON in the audience and launches into, "MON, he's a Blessed man, Blessed man", you could see he really meant it and I'm with him and you. I remember also MON on arrival saying his da told him he should be willing to crawl on hands and knees through broken glass to manage Celtic and he meant it.

 

I will never forget the iconic photo of MON and Lennon taken after the abuse Lennon took from the unwashed, both player and manager with clenched fists pointing to the sky. Also the humorous way MON used to talk about Lubos age, sheer class from a very class act

 

Thats the photo and if I remember MON unusually got very little media stick for this

 

No he got huge stick.

Though it was before social media, back when Setenta were showing our games, if you signed up for the channel, you got Celtic TV as a bonus and it had a Monday night show called the Huddle which aired at 6pm. It was basically highlights, analysis and talking points from the weekend's action. Was great for those of us in Ireland who didn't get any of the Scottish highlight shows.

Was a pretty decent set up too. Had a few different hosts over the years: Ally Begg, Gerry McCulloch, Alex O'Henley. Few guests as well, usually Jim Craig, but also had Murdo McLeod, Tom Boyd, Tosh McKinlay and Willie McStay from time to time.

But I remember very vividly the show on the Monday after that Old Firm game. They showed all the highlights and went through all the talking points - which included showing a number of newspaper headlines and columns from the Sunday and Monday editions of the tabloids. They were overwhelmingly negative towards O'Neill. One was from Bill Leckie in the Sun who wrote something along the lines of "O'Neill was playing to the worst elements of the Celtic support, I've been sick of him for some time".

Again for those of us not living in Scotland, not seeing the newspapers daily, it was an eye-opener to an extent. As far as I recall, the only one to give a measured analysis of the game, and the sectarian abuse to which Lennon and MON were subjected, was Graham Spiers.

 

Thanks for correcting me my memory playing tricks with me but that qoute from leckie is typical Sun garbage

 

I think he's a manager some players will never take to especially the new breed of footballer who have way more power than they had before and can easily make a manager's life *. I think Martin has that a lot bad luck with arrogant * in his teams he managed lately. Maybe he has had his day as far as the game passing him by though.

 

Brilliant times under the blessed Martin , players like Sutton , Hartson , Petrov and Henrik , glory days indeed .

 

I still get that feeling of sheer pride the day he was unveiled when I see his name, one of our clubs greatest ever managers and a legend.

 

Great clip there. A true Celtic man just like Neil Lennon and unlike a certain rat. Love Martin O' Neill.

 

IT was 20 years ago today, on Thursday, June 1, 2000, that Martin O’Neill stood on the steps outside Celtic Park and promised that he would do everything he could to bring success to the football club.

The Irishman had just been officially unveiled as the new Celtic manager, having moved from Leicester City, and he was addressing the thousands fans who had gathered at the stadium.

“It's an absolute honour for me to be the manager here, an absolute honour,” Martin O’Neill said. “I will do everything I possibly can to bring some success to this club.”

The Irishman brought in John Robertson and Steve Walford as his coaching staff, while there were new arrivals in the shape of Chris Sutton and Joos Valgaeren. They were later joined by Alan Thompson, Didier Agathe, Rab Douglas and, of course, Neil Lennon, who also moved from Leicester to Paradise in December 2000.

Martin O’Neill’s impact was immediate… who could forget the 6-2 demolition derby in August which signalled that Glasgow was going green and white.

That first season, the Irishman delivered Celtic’s first domestic treble in 32 years, with Henrik Larsson leading the way with 53 goals, including 35 in the league which saw him win Europe’s Golden Boot Award.

The following season, as the league was retained, the Hoops reached the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in the club’s history, while in 2002/03, the disappointment of being knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers was more than compensated by the incredible UEFA Cup run which saw Celtic reach the final before narrowly losing 3-2 after extra-time to Porto in Seville.

Some 80,000 Celtic supporters made that journey to the Spanish side for that game – Celtic’s first appearance in a European final since 1970 – and they remain forever grateful to Martin O’Neill and his Celtic team for those memories, despite the heartache of the defeat in the final.

The Hoops were dominant domestically, impressive on the European stage, with famous European wins over Juventus at home (4-3), knocking Barcelona out of the UEFA Cup, and a green and white wash over city rivals, Rangers, witih five wins out of five in the 2003/04 season.

By the time Martin O’Neill bid farewell to Paradise in June 2005, he had lifted the League title three times, the Scottish Cup three times and the League Cup once, not forgetting the nine Manager of the Month awards, four Manager of the Year awards and that remarkable run to the UEFA Cup final in 2002/03.

He had said he would do everything he could to bring success to the football club, and he was certainly true to his word.

 

Thanks.., can’t get Sgt Peppers LHCB out of my head now...

Beating Souness’ mob home and away was magic... and an away doing of the scousers...

Im sure Mr Ger’rard doesn’t need reminded.