Martin O’Neill. One of only a few names that will go down in recent Celtic history as a legend of the club.
Taking over the reins from the fateful John Barnes/Kenny Dalglish era, the enigmatic Northern Irishman was tasked with reinstating Celtic as the dominant force in Scottish football and overthrowing a Dick Advocaat Rangers team who has just won a domestic treble.
It was a formidable task considering the amount of money Rangers were throwing at their club but much to O’Neill’s credit, he did it, and with style.
Winning a treble in his first season, Martin O’Neill led Celtic to the incredible 6-2 Glasgow Derby result which started the club on a course of success that the fans currently enjoy right now.
So how did he do it? How did he manage to motivate his players to achieve that treble and the European success they had during his five seasons at the club?
Aston Villa star tells superb Martin O’Neill story
Former Aston Villa defender, James Collins, was recalling his time at the Premier League club under O’Neill when he told a story about the former Celtic boss that will completely resonate with the Hoops support.
Collins said [Under The Cosh], “I don’t know if you know this Martin wouldn’t be about training too much. There wasn’t any tactical nous really with Martin.
“But when he spoke, lined his team up, he was brilliant. So the first meeting is the Saturday night before we played and he’s done his little chat and we watch the video.
“And he’s gone after the meeting, ‘Right any questions?’ So big Dunny’s [Richard Dunne] put his hand up and said, ‘Yeah, sorry boss. Me and James are obviously new, what are we doing on set plays? Are we doing man marking, are we zonal what we do?’
“Martin O’Neill said, ‘What we’ll do is I assigned you two to head it. So you to stand in the middle of box and head it.’
“And that was it. It was genius.
“But if you done well for Martin he looked after you. Unbelievable. He made you feel the best player in the world and could do anything but then if you messed up and weren’t great he would hammer you and make you feel about that big.”
Indeed, the Celtic fans will remember tales from former players about O’Neill’s lack of input at training but also how brilliant he was at motivating the players.
The Celtic legend inspired his team to three league titles, two Scottish Cups and two League Cups as well as improving Celtic’s standing in Europe by reaching the Champions League group stages for the first ever time and the UEFA Cup Final of 2003.
O’Neill led Celtic to great European nights over the likes of Juventus, Liverpool and Barcelona.