James Collins played under Martin O’Neill’s stewardship at Aston Villa.
This was a few years after O’Neill’s first and legendary stint at Celtic, as the former centre-back got a taste of what it was like to play under the Irishman’s genius.
To be specific, Collins joined Villa in 2009, when O’Neill was in his pomp, and football still had an old-school feel to it, unlike today’s modern craze.
When O’Neill was confirmed as Celtic boss for the 2026/27 season, the club also brought in a set-piece coach – the first of its kind at Parkhead.
Ross Grant joined Celtic from Hearts, but it’s a far cry from the methods O’Neill is used to teaching when it comes to set-plays.
Speaking on Under the Cosh, Collins explained how O’Neill went about instructing him and his new centre-back partner, Richard Dunne, on how to deal with set-pieces.
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How Martin O’Neill used to deal with set-pieces at Aston Villa…
“Our first meeting, me and Dunney (Richard Dunne),” said Collins. “We signed on the deadline day of the Thursday, like January.
“We were playing Birmingham in the derby on the Sunday.
“So, our first meeting with Martin is the Saturday night in the hotel in Birmingham. We hadn’t really seen Martin, but he had signed us and then, I don’t know if you didn’t notice, but Martin wouldn’t be about training too much.
“There wasn’t any tactic or nous with Martin, but when he spoke and lined his team up, he was brilliant.
“Our first meeting is the Saturday night before we play Birmingham on a Sunday. He’s done his little chat, watched the video, and he has gone after the meeting, right? Any questions?
“So, big Dunney’s put his hand up and gone, ‘Sorry, boss. Me and Ginge (Collins), we are new, so what are we doing on set-plays? Are we man-marking? Are we zonal? What do we do?’
“Martin O’Neill went, ‘Right, what we will do is. I signed you two big c__ts to head it, so you two stand in the middle of the box and f___ing head it.’ And that was it. That was the remit.
“So, me and Dunney used to stand on the six-yard box, not marking anyone and just f___ing head everything. We conceded one goal from a corner all year.
“How simple is it? But genius!”
O’Neill’s modern-day Celtic
Yes, many parts of Celtic still needs to enter the modern world. No more so than the boardroom.
But for once, and to many fans’ surprise, it was great to see Celtic appoint a set-piece coach, because it’s much needed and it will take the club forward.
However, you have to question how much of a role O’Neill played in this, because there is no way he would have asked for a set-piece coach.
This is probably where the mix of the young guns, such as Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham, will mix with O’Neill’s old-school ways.
It worked last season when they guided Celtic to a domestic double, and now supporters are hoping for much calmer waters.
There were times last season when the Hoops would play out from the back, such as against Motherwell at home, make a mistake and then proceed to kick it long for the rest of the match.
It will be interesting to see if things do go wrong with set-plays, whether O’Neill will get involved and demand more simplicity, because Grant hasn’t been brought in just to help the players directly cross the ball into the six-yard box.
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