Celtic v VfB Stuttgart – Martin O’Neill’s 1000th game milestone

Q: Some supporters are still banned from Celtic games at the moment. Do you know what the latest is on the talks with the Celtic supporters? And also, how regrettable is it that we’ll still have empty seats at Celtic Park tomorrow?

Martin O’Neill: “Yes, I’m agreeing with you. I think that a full house here at Celtic Park is something special. Every European night that I’ve had in the past, way back then, was just full of special moments. Teams were, I think, and I’m talking about the really major sides were still very, very concerned about coming here. The passion, the drive, the noise that’s made.

“I remember here at our game against Liverpool in that UEFA run, John Robertson, my old friend, was standing beside me and speaking to me. I couldn’t hear what he was saying for the first 10 or 15 minutes. It was so, so loud. So, yes, little bits have been lost from that. And that’s regrettable, to use your word, I think.

“And I’m hoping that… I think there has been some discussions, of which I obviously wasn’t party to. But I hear that there might have been some progress made. But as I’ve been saying this here, the sooner that there is unity at Celtic Park, the better for all concerned.

“I have no doubt at all that the crowd behind the goal on Sunday contributed greatly to us fighting back in the game. No question about that.”

Q: Is there any circumstance come the summer where if the club wanted to look at maybe a sort of continuity appointment, would you be open to continuing your stay here?

Martin O’Neill: “I really genuinely think that that would be… That’s too far in the future for me. Genuinely too far in the future. You mentioned about the 1000 games. If you’d seen my early matches at Leicester City in late 1995, early 1996, you would give long odds of me doing 1000 games in that time. But back to your point, I think that it is far too far in the future. To me, it’s a long way away. And how I might feel today might be totally different in 10 days’ time. We’ve got a lot of games here. We’ve got a lot of work to do. And if we fall by the wayside, which we could easily do, I don’t think we’d even have been having any sort of discussion.”

Q: In your previous experience in European competitions, what can a run in the latter stages do for the confidence and competitiveness of your squad?

Martin O’Neill:  “If I can go back to 2003, I thought it was terrific. We were definitely very, very focused on that at the time. And obviously, domestically, Rangers and us were vying for almost everything at that stage. They were very strong. But I think that the games… I think probably after Liverpool game, I know we’re now into the semi-finals, but then there was a total focus on that and trying to see if we could come out and win the competition. And at the same time, the battle with Rangers was raging every single week. There just didn’t seem to be any respite, but I felt as if the squad that I had there could cope with the games. I think that was the major thing. And that they loved… Those boys loved playing European football.”

Q: Do you feel like you’re in a similar position now? Do you feel like this squad can cope with the same demands?

Martin O’Neill:  “Well, please, this is not an excuse for me. Far, far, far, far from it. But by 2003, I knew my squad inside out. I knew what they could do. I knew what physical prowess they had. I knew what ability they had. And so I knew them inside out. So believe it or not, I’m still learning here quite detailed, you know, all the time. And mostly excellent stuff about them as well too. But, yeah, I don’t know is the answer.”

Q&A continues on the next page…