Martin O'Neill: The Biography

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Martin O’Neill was born in London. The Graphic illustrator Artist creates collages for a wide range of International clients through publishing, advertising, design, and installation work. An important incident from this season showed the greatest aspect of Martin O’Neill. This was when at the end of a game v Rangers ( link), he took midfielder Neil Lennon over to the Celtic fans and proudly paraded him shoulder-to-shoulder after Lennon was racially & verbally abused for the 90mins by the Rangers fans. During the five years we [Celtic] played everyone to be perfectly honest – and many a time we played referees an’ all.” One theory that has been spun about Martin O’Neill on why he was such a good manager is because he was an avid legal eagle, having done a law degree and that it was in the family and so on. There is some truth in it but it has been way over-blown.

His last season was the most difficult, and in many ways should not be seen in any way as being representative of his reign. On the penultimate day of college I went up to the Illustration department with a suitcase of collages and had a chat with Illustrator / tutor Jo Hassell. She gave me a list of Design agencies, publishers, ad agencies and said ‘Go see them. They’d love your stuff.’ They included Penguin, Legas Delaney, Vaughan Oliver and the lads at Tomato. I made it my mission to show them my work in person, which I did, over a year or so. September – O’Neill gives his support to club chairman John Elsom in the wake of the Filbert Street power struggle. Nottingham Forest made history at home and abroad without those involved ever knowing how fabled their run was. “You were on this ride,” O’Neill says. “You are going to West Ham and expecting to win, whereas the previous year trying to beat Bristol Rovers was a struggle. I don’t think we realised it was special until it was over. The night we lost to the Bulgarians [CSKA Sofia in 1980] in the European Cup, you thought: ‘Wow, that’s it.’Wycombe win GM Vauxhall Conference title to achieve promotion to the Football League and clinch another FA Trophy success. I find editing the past therapeutic and like to reassemble my own versions of moments,imaginary or real. Billy Bingham made O’Neill the first Catholic captain of Northern Ireland, which represented a seriously bold move in the early 1980s. “Billy said: ‘We get the results, everything will take care of itself,”” O’Neill recalls. “As it did. March – O’Neill’s long-term future remains unresolved after the club denied reports he is set to sign new contract.

A season never to be forgotten by any Celtic fan (or anyone else who was there to witness any of it!). His international clients encompass advertising, design, editorial, publishing, as well as regular contributions to the UK and US press including Sony Playstation, Faber Faber, Capital One, EMI Music, Wired USA, Camel & GQ India. For a complicated man, he played a very simple game. He was as good at tactics as anybody but that’s not how he is considered. He is considered a motivator, a shouter or a charmer. He knew the game inside out. He told us things tactically during games that stood the test of time. He would say something to you on a Monday, contradict himself on a Friday and you would believe both.” He was clear about what he wanted. He took the players he needed from the previous era – the ones with character, fire and quality – and built his own team. He brought in Alan Thompson, Chris Sutton, Neil Lennon, Bobo Balde, Joos Valgaeren – huge players for us. Martin knew how to build a team of warriors. We didn’t fear anyone; we played Barcelona, Lyon and Liverpool, and we weren’t scared. Teams feared us when they came to Celtic Park. We had such togetherness and we had winners, and we were hungry for success.”

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The changes at Ibrox don’t affect our job one jot, certainly nothing that happens over there will influence what I do.”