Martin O’Neill had the Sporting Club Ireland audience at Mackenzies in Dublin in the palm of his hand last night, delivering an evening of razor-sharp humour wrapped around genuine warmth and some of the best stories in modern football.
He began in the here and now – his unexpected recent return to Celtic as interim manager after a surprise call from Dermot Desmond. O’Neill admitted he had “no idea” why he was doing it and “hoped it wouldn’t be for much longer,” joking that his wife, ever his harshest critic, told him he’d “make a bollocks of it anyway.” He spoke candidly about the strain of management at 73, confessing that if a physio had checked his heart rate during the closing stages of the Rangers game, he “should be dead,” and making no secret of his wish that a permanent manager is appointed quickly, even after steering Celtic into a cup final and beating Rangers along the way.
From there, he bounced back to Kilrea and his GAA-obsessed childhood. One of the most charming moments of the night came when he described returning to Croke Park as Celtic manager and, six months later, having two old Nally Stand seats delivered unexpectedly to his home – now painted up and sitting in his garden as a little piece of history.
Football came calling, though, and the journey from Distillery to Nottingham Forest, including scoring against Barcelona and then against Manchester United in 1971, before enduring what he called “a bad spell that lasted four and a half years.”
The arrival of Brian Clough “changed our lives” as Forest went from the Second Division to league champions and back-to-back European Cups, Clough’s put-downs, including that the linesman was having a better game than him, got some of the biggest laughs of the night. So did O’Neill’s awestruck memories of George Best – the talent, the punishment he took, and the hotel foyers full of young women.
His management career was framed around that simple mantra from his nine-year-old daughter at Wycombe Wanderers – “Dad, just win” – and how it applied everywhere from non-league to Leicester City. He relived the early protests and fans jumping on his car at Filbert Street, his wife telling him he “deserved it,” and the promotion and League Cups that turned everything around and led to Celtic.
Celtic brought both glory and scars: domestic success, a European final in Seville and a lingering sense that his team should have beaten Mourinho’s Porto, whose players “fell down every time they were touched.” With Ireland, he spoke warmly of bringing Roy Keane in as assistant, the spirit of the squad, the magic nights against Germany and Italy at Euro 2016, and the emotion of hearing “The Fields of Athenry” in France. He was very clear that, despite the criticism in his final year, managing the Republic “was a privilege.”
He finished as he began – dry, honest and slightly fatalistic. The fantasy of winning a trophy with Celtic this winter and walking away, he said, is unlikely. But if Dermot Desmond calls tomorrow to say a new manager is in place? “Absolutely fine with me.”
Host Ian Stafford had previously called upon Paul Galvin and Dave Kilcoyne to share some stories as well, and it was a fun evening out of the torrential rain that fell through the night.
We are pleased to have the Sporting Club Ireland as a member and to help Mark and Aoife Brandon on their journey to build this into a series of events that bring people together in a social environment through the power of sport and great storytelling.
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