Celtic fans have their say after Chris Sutton questions Martin O’Neill’s ‘soft’ approach

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Not many players within the game know Martin O’Neill better than Chris Sutton.

The former Celtic striker got to see O’Neill in his pomp when they won the Treble in Glasgow, and wrote his name into the history books as the club’s greatest ever modern-day manager.

But over two decades since returning to Celtic, it was suggested by Sutton that his former boss has become ‘softly, softly’ in his approach, as he cited how he handled Kasper Schmeichel’s season-ending injury.

Many thought Celtic’s number one was selfish for continually playing with a shoulder injury from last season, which cost the Hoops valuable points, but whilst fans expressed their anger, O’Neill was a lot calmer.

Bearing that in mind, 67 Hail Hail decided to ask our TalkingPoints readers what they thought about it all.

• READ MORE: John Hartson makes a telling point on Celtic standards as he backs James Forrest to start

Has O’Neill been soft in his approach since returning to Celtic?

Chris Sutton thinks so!

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TalkingPoints readers react to Chris Sutton’s ‘softly’ claim about Martin O’Neill

What needs to be taken into account is the fact that O’Neill knows he is in the Celtic Park dugout on a short-term basis, so that’s probably why he has mellowed.

Not forgetting his age, which was mentioned by one of our readers.

• skevd63 wrote: ‘He is 74 years old. He needs to be calmer, or he’d end up in the hospital. It’s bad enough he has the board from hell to deal with on a regular basis; he can’t be busting blood vessels at his age.’
• johnprior999: ‘Different types of situations require different approaches…. He’s in for the short term, so that will inform his approach.’

Perhaps, just perhaps, O’Neill is playing the perfect game. At the end of the day, you wouldn’t put it past him.

But one user suggested Celtic’s legendary coach could be portraying one view to the media & completely different to players.’

• rvybw9z4yf: ‘Every manager has to adapt to the different situations players & team are in. MO’N is no different. However, MO’N is an expert at portraying one view to the media & completely different to players.’

But another user went down a different road. luckytroll82 thinks O’Neill could simply be doing what he is told by those above.

• luckytroll82 wrote: ‘He’s probably just taking orders from the board and having to work with the toneless weak players that he’s inherited.’

The latter suggestion is probably a little far-fetched, to be honest.

Yes, O’Neill is doing Dermot Desmond a favour, but whilst the younger coaches can be used as puppets, it certainly wouldn’t work with a man of the calibre of O’Neill and his old-school ways.