On the eve of what promises to be another epic European match on his watch, Martin O’Neill had cause to recall a sliding-doors moment.
As he prepared to take his customary seat in the dug-out against Stuttgart, the Northern Irishman was told he was about to join the select band of managers in Britain to have chalked up 1,000 professional matches.
And he admitted that, were it not for a chance meeting with a familiar face some 36 years ago, a storied journey on both sides of the border might never have started.
‘I didn’t get the Wycombe job first time round, I lost out in an interview,’ recalled O’Neill.
‘Alan Parry, the commentator, was a director at Wycombe. Fast forward two years and I am doing some work for BBC radio – Norwich were playing Liverpool.
‘Alan is a big Liverpool fan. He wasn’t working that day but went to Carrow Road. I met him in the loo.
Martin O’Neill hasn’t lost his passion for football as the 73-year-old prepares for his 1,000th game as a manager
O’Neill is as committed to Celtic now as he was as a younger manager prowling the touchlines of Europe in the early 2000s
‘He said: “I thought you would have applied for the job again”. I told him I didn’t know it was available.
‘He asked if I wanted him to put my name forward but said it might be a bit late because the chairman was doing interviews that particular day.
‘Alan called me back when I got home and said the job had been taken by Kenny Swain, who had won the European Cup with Aston Villa and was working at Crewe with Dario Gradi.
‘He took the job on the Sunday night, then decided on the Monday not to do it, so I went down for the interview on the Tuesday night. Since I was the only one interviewed, even I couldn’t fail that.’
And so, it began. O’Neill’s first game was an FA Cup tie at Boston which Wycombe, then in the Conference, drew 1-1 before winning the replay 4-0.
O’Neill was 37 back then. In what feels like the blink of an eye, he’s now 73 and taking a phone-call from the League Manager’s Association, of which he’s chairman, confirming that he’s survived long enough to be welcomed into a magic circle.
‘It is really nice,’ he smiled. ‘I went last year to the LMA as the chairman and there were five (1,000 club members) there at the time; (Jurgen) Klopp, (Jose) Mourinho, Ian Holloway. David Moyes was there and Mick McCarthy. Holloway kind of stole the show in terms of the talking. Even then, I genuinely didn’t know how many games I would have had.’
The landmark achievement wasn’t even in his thoughts when he agreed to return to Celtic first time around last October.
The Northern Irishman is looking forward to another encounter with old foes Stuttgart
Six years after last taking charge of Nottingham Forest, his only concern was protecting his legacy.
‘When I came here in the first spell, my biggest worry was not ruining anything from 20 odd years ago,’ he admitted.
‘It turns out it shouldn’t have been as big a concern in my head as it was. Of course, you like showing you can still win. You’d be telling lies otherwise.’
O’Neill has amply demonstrated that the passing of time hasn’t dulled his ability to turn a team’s fortunes around.
Not only has he twice brought Celtic back into the title race, he’s overseen a progression in Europe which once looked like a forlorn hope.
And he’s not the only one to have taken pleasure from showing there is, indeed, no substitute for experience.
O’Neill has been as animated as ever in the second spell of his return to Parkhead
‘I did get some calls from older managers, it would be unfair to say who,’ he said.
‘It would be too strong to say I’m flying the flag, but it was like saying: “We can still do it”.
‘I saw Harry Redknapp saying if Tottenham wanted to bring him back, he’d be all for it. He’s ancient by comparison!’
Were he to mark his 1000th game with a victory, it would surely rank among any he’s presided over.
Up to fourth in the Bundesliga, Stuttgart are on form, formidable, and already eyeing the Europa League final in Istanbul.
Twenty-three years after O’Neill’s Celtic defeated them on the road to Seville, only the most optimistic supporter is contemplating such a scenario.
Bluntly, with the Premiership title race nip and tuck, there are many who feel that a dignified European exit would be no bad thing. While O’Neill gets the point, he can’t agree with it.
‘You’d wonder if maybe we wouldn’t be equipped down the line,’ he said. ‘Istanbul is a long way away, and I don’t mean geographically.
‘If you were knocked out you would have immediate disappointment but, if it did free up some weeks to give players time to recover, that might be decent.
The Celtic legend reflected on his beginnings as a manager with Wycombe Wanderers
‘But you might get knocked out here and we might get beat on the Sunday. It could all disappear quickly, even if we lost here.
‘On the other side, you have to look at it positively. If you can compete here with them, then it surely must give you confidence as they are a fine team.’
Stuttgart were most certainly that back in 2003, only for O’Neill’s all-conquering side to knock them out of the UEFA Cup.
The manager believes taking the current players on a walk down memory lane would be futile.
‘Can you imagine me having a conversation with (Daizen) Maeda about a game 20 odd years ago? He’d be staring at me, wondering what I was on about.’
While scoring in stoppage time in three successive domestic matches has bolstered the spirit of the squad, O’Neill has evidently had his fill of such nerve-shredding drama.
‘Well, it is unsustainable. There’s no question of it,’ he stated. ‘Personally speaking, I think we have shown a spirit. I think the lads do keep going.
‘But, at the end of it all, it seems as if it’s something that you’re almost planning. It’s not. And it’s not good for my heart at all.
‘The only thing I will say about it is that I genuinely do believe they want to keep going.
O’Neill is enjoying the title race, but admits his team can’t always be relying on late goals
‘The minute we got the equaliser (in Sunday’s 3-2 win at Rugby Park), I noticed the big boy Tomas (Cvancara) getting the ball out of the net and racing up to put it under the halfway. So, that’s encouraging. We do keep going.’
Back in the day, the suggestion that his side were getting away with it would have irked him no end.
‘It would have bothered me 20 years ago,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t bother me now.”
One thing is abundantly clear. To have any chance of causing an upset this evening, O’Neill cannot countenance seeing his players go through the motions for 45 minutes again,
‘I’m hoping we get on the front foot early,’ he said. ‘Let’s go and do something. Try and do something about the game. If you allow Stuttgart just to get into a pattern of a game, then they would be very strong.”
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was signed too late to make the revised squad list which Celtic had to submit to UEFA, but Julian Araujo, Junior Adamu and Cvancara are available.
‘I didn’t realise how limited you were to making changes for the second stages of this competition,’ admitted O’Neill. ‘I thought you could maybe change six or seven. You could only do three. You’re learning all the time, aren’t you?’
