Martin O’Neill had an eye for a player.
Joining a Celtic team in disarray in 2000, the Irishman had quite the task on his hands to turn the fortunes of a team which had failed to even put up a challenge in the prior season’s title race.
The transfer window was crucial, and saw O’Neill get to work with pivotal signings. Chris Sutton, Joos Valgaeren, Alan Thompson and Didier Agathe were all brought in during the summer window.
Compared to the business of the most recent summer window for Brendan Rodgers, it’s quite the contrast – not least because a striker was sold in the form of Mark Viduka, and replaced by Sutton. Damning parallels.
In the December, O’Neill was reunited with Neil Lennon, who was signed for £6 million from Leicester. But one former England man has revealed how things could’ve been very different.
Danny Murphy on Martin O’Neill signing Neil Lennon
Imagining Celtic’s history without Lennon is quite something. Not only was he a first-team mainstay for seven years, but he also spent over six years in the dugout at Celtic Park.
READ MORE: Paul Scholes admits what he didn’t realise about Celtic while playing at Man Utd
Danny Murphy has now revealed how O’Neill nearly didn’t sign him initially at Leicester, where their nine-year association begun.
Speaking on TalkSPORT, Murphy was in a conversation with Brentford Technical Director Lee Dykes about whether you can ‘over-watch’ a player during the recruitment process.
Murphy said: “I was very lucky, I was brought up in the Crewe academy. I remember Dario [Gradi] telling me a story that about Neil Lennon.
“He’d actually been released from Man City and came to Crewe, and he was the best player in the league. He was great for a couple of years.
“Martin O’Neill was watching him and watching him and watching him, and the story goes that Dario basically convinced Martin to do the deal.
“I think he went for 400 grand, which is obviously a great signing. And he said to me that he said to Martin, ‘you’re over-watching him. You’re looking for things. You’re finding little things the more you watch him.'”
Dario Gradi was the manager of Crewe at the time.
Martin O’Neill’s Celtic signings
Beyond his first summer at Celtic Park, O’Neill continued to perform brilliantly in the transfer market.
2001 saw the arrival of Bobo Balde and John Hartson, two mainstays in the ‘Road to Seville’ of two years later. The less said about Balde’s final, the better.
Craig Bellamy was the only real success of the next three years, however, with signings such as Juninho, David Fernandez and Henri Camara never quite working out.
The quality of options in O’Neill’s squad negated the impact of poor signings, in fairness.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
