On reading the report of Martin O’Neill’s phone number getting leaked, the first response was woe betide the poor fool who dared to ring him.
This column has experience of a phone call with O’Neill – two, in fact, as he was cut off during a tense exchange, after about 25 minutes.
No matter: he rang back, apologised for the call dropping and seamlessly picked up where he left off.
We talked for another 30 minutes or so.
This was in October 2018, as the Declan Rice saga neared its messy end. At a media conference the day before, Ireland manager O’Neill said that the FAI was still courting the midfielder.
He said that Rice would get space to make his decision. When this comment was tweeted from an FAI account, Rice liked it.
By early afternoon it was un-liked, as all hell broke loose. O’Neill was still conducting interviews when a British broadcaster reported with certainty that Rice was choosing England as his international team.
Bedlam ensued, but O’Neill took time in the fall-out to source my number and make a call complaining about the perspective I’d taken on the story in that morning’s paper.
O’Neill was still conducting interviews when a British broadcaster reported with certainty that Rice was choosing England as his international team.
It was an invigorating conversation, one that we agreed at its amicable conclusion would remain private between us.
And it will stay that way, but almost an hour in one-on-one debate with Martin O’Neill brought vivid confirmation of the impression formed over the previous five years of watching and interviewing him on Ireland duty.
He was spiky and occasionally angry as we spoke, but never aggressive.
He made his points with crystal clarity, and while you can argue that the manager of the national team should have had more to detain him – his reign was in a spiral by this point, and would end within six weeks of us talking – his willingness to defend himself provided a captivating insight into the workings of a high-achieving man.
The memory of those calls sharpened when watching O’Neill’s bravura performance on Thursday as he addressed the aftermath of Celtic’s title win against Hearts.
The pitch invasion was selfish, irresponsible and dangerous, and there’s no reasonable defence of the practice beyond tradition.
The GAA addressed that in Croke Park, if not elsewhere, and there aren’t many players who would tell you they prefer getting man-handled by strangers to celebrating a seismic victory with team-mates.
But the reaction to some Celtic supporters streaming on to the pitch was also a vehicle for score-settling and borne of often ugly prejudice, to judge by much of the commentary.
In that context, O’Neill’s stout defence of his club was understandable and at least partly justified.
And his revealing that his mobile number was leaked following Celtic’s dramatic win against Motherwell in their penultimate game showed how unhinged many people are.
In that context of some prejudiced comments, O’Neill’s stout defence of his club was understandable and at least partly justified.
The news that he had changed it after getting upwards of 250 abusive messages also saved some of those morons from the forensic scrutiny that he brings to discussion, as this respondent can attest.
His intentions were being interpreted in contrasting ways ahead of yesterday’s Scottish Cup final against Dunfermline.
He was, according to some reports, gearing up for goodbye, with others reading the runes and finding him in prime position to continue for another season.
Robbie Keane’s departure from Ferencvaros could affect the calculations around the Celtic job, but given the activist influence within the club’s support that are appalled by his working in Israel, Keane’s appointment to the role would guarantee weeks of protest and could be more trouble than its worth to Dermot Desmond and the club’s board – no matter how compelling his claims on the job.
That is another indication of how thankless managing Celtic often is – the shine will wear off their last-gasp league title, and their repeated failure to make a mark in Europe will be a cause of strife come the autumn.
It’s hard to see how overseeing this holds any appeal for a 74-year-old, but O’Neill clearly loves Celtic.
He is a manager of great substance, a fact too easily overlooked at the end of his Ireland tenure.
This postscript has been unexpected and inspiring, and befits a man who likes having the last word.
