Former Aston Villa boss hails Dermot Desmond after quick Martin O’Neill decision but highlights one concern
Martin O’Neill is back in the Celtic dugout for the first time in 20 years
Former Celtic midfield maestro Paul Lambert has hailed the decision to bring back Martin O’Neill as interim manager as a ‘master stroke’ and has backed the Northern Irishmen to get the place bouncing again after a lacklustre start to the league campaign.
O’Neill was first hired as Celtic boss in June 2000 after an impressive four and half year stint as Leicester City boss which had seen him win promotion and spearhead the Foxes to three successive League Cup finals, whilst coming out on top on two of those occasions.
He arrived with pedigree, taking over from the team of John Barnes and Kenny Dalglish, and transformed a Celtic side that had missed out on the title by 21 points into a force to be reckoned with - winning a domestic treble in his debut season and a further four trophies in the years that followed - making him statistically the most successful manager in the club’s history with a win rate of 75.5%.
Paul Lambert backs Martin O’Neill to succeed
Former European Cup winner Paul Lambert, who played under Martin O’Neill at Celtic after leaving Borussia Dortmund, believes the former Republic of Ireland and Sunderland boss has all the characteristics to succeed at Celtic again.
Lambert, who has notably managed the likes of Aston Villa and Norwich City, explained via talkSPORT: "I think Martin coming in there straight away, I think it's a master stroke because he will galvanize the support again.
"I spoke to the gaffer this morning when I heard he was going in, and if there's one man, as I said before, who can get a crowd going and and handle the journalism of it and handle the pressure of it, then it's him. No doubt.I think it's a master stroke by Dermot to bring him back in the interim.”
However, Lambert did admit that the Celtic team that O’Neill will inherit is a farcry from the talented team the club had in the early years of the 21st century. He said: "Albeit, he's not taking on the group of players he had in the early 2000s."
Who featured in Martin O’Neill’s final Celtic team of 2004/05?
Martin O’Neill’s final season at Celtic was the first and only campaign in which he missed out on the Premiership title. However, he was able to make amends slightly by winning the Scottish Cup against Dundee United.
Lambert featured in that team but was an unused substitute in that particular final, with the likes of Jackie McNamara, Neil Lennon, Stylian Petrov, Craig Bellamy, Chris Sutton and Jon Hartson all being among the big names in the XI along with eventual match-winner Alan Thompson.