Celtic’s 4-1 victory against Shelbourne in a pre-season friendly on 6 July 2002 was a fairly low-key affair, with David Fernandez making his debut and the Hoops’ goals coming from a John Hartson brace, and a goal-apiece from Didier Agathe and Chris Sutton.
What made this run-of-the-mill bounce game infinitely more interesting was the breaking news story gathering pace throughout the action that Martin O’Neill was about to leave Celtic for the English Premiership.
Just two years into his tenure, O’Neill had won back-to-back titles and a treble with the club who seemed to be his perfect match, but Leeds United fancied the Irishman following the sacking of David O’Leary.
O’Neill refuted the claims at the time by insisting:
“There has been no approach from Leeds, and I want to see through the remaining year of my contract.”
Investigative journalist, Tom Bower, later claimed in his book Broken Dreams: Vanity, Greed and the Souring of English Football that O’Neill had, in fact, accepted the Leeds job by the time he arrived in Dublin.
So what changed O’Neill’s mind? The man responsible for his change of heart when they met in Dublin, according to Bower, was none other than Dermot Desmond.
The Leeds rumours resurfaced by the time of the winter break, by which time Celtic were trailing Rangers by three points, and concerns remained over Martin O’Neill’s soon-to-expire contract.
The fear among Celtic fans centred around renewed interest from Elland Road, and it looked as though our saviour was on his way back to the English Premiership.
When pushed on the matter by Ireland’s Saturday Night (4 January 2003), chief executive Ian McLeod insisted:
“It is a media question which is asked at every available opportunity now but we do it at our pace and in private.”
“Should he stay or should he go?” asked Sunday World Dublin (5 January 2003), who claimed that Liverpool and Manchester United were also both interested in a manager they described as, “the hottest young boss in Britain”.
Some of the reasons offered for O’Neill staying at Celtic included:
- His relationship with Dermot Desmond;
- The £2m of Celtic shares he had been rewarded with;
- His legacy at Celtic;
- The club’s worldwide appeal;
- The assumption that, “he wouldn’t like to turn his back on his boyhood heroes.”
The reasons for leaving also made for interesting reading:
- Lack of transfer funds;
- Henrik Larsson, Neil Lennon and Stiliyan Petrov all stalling on new contracts;
- “It’s almost impossible for him to take the club any further.”
- There being no chance of managing Celtic in the English Premiership;
- Ambition.
On that last point, it was noted that, “Anyone who knows O’Neill closely will tell you he is driven by ambition to be the best. He wants to win the European Cup and won’t let anything get in his way. Even most Celtic fans will admit he’ll never do it while at Parkhead so that might force him to try his luck at another club he feels he can take to that level.”
O’Neill killed the speculation by signing a rolling 12-month contract, which is the same deal current boss Ange Postecoglou is on.
It remains to be seen how the ominous lure of the EPL will affect Ange’s future, but we have faced these challenges before and will, no doubt, face them again both with players and managers.
There are similarities to the dilemmas faced by both O’Neill and Postecoglou 20 years apart, but what has changed is the sheer gulf in finances between what Celtic can offer compared to our English counterparts.
Dermot Desmond made an 11th hour intervention to keep O’Neill at the club two decades ago. Let’s hope he can work his magic again all these years later.
BOBBY GORDON
Dermot Desmond needs to have another good lunch with Joe Lewis preferably at The Sandy Bay Hotel in The Barbados