Martin O’Neill was in amongst scenes of jubilation after Celtic’s win at Ibrox last weekend.
After Hoops fans invaded the pitch to celebrate, things sadly took an ugly turn, with masked Rangers fans charging over from the other end of the pitch.
Some have had the audacity to criticise O’Neill for posing for selfies with fans on the pitch.
So, at his press conference this week, the Celtic boss was reminded of the approach his ex-manager Brian Clough took to pitch invaders.
How can we ensure that the Glasgow derby can continue having full allocations after the latest incident?
Celtic boss Martin O’Neill on Brian Clough approach to pitch invaders
Asked about Clough famously swinging at a couple of Nottingham Forest fans who invaded the pitch, O’Neill said: “I had no intention of giving any one of my own fans a lot for being on the field!
“[Clough] may ask me what was I doing on it..
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“He made up with that fan sometime later. Primarily because the fan could have sued him.
“But Clough did hit him. But the fellow was so infatuated with Clough, that he asked him to hit the other side of him, a bit like Jesus!”
O’Neill is right; Clough did invite two fans he had hit to their training ground, where they apologised to him for their behaviour.
On the game at Ibrox itself and how it sets his side up for today’s clash with Motherwell, the interim boss said: “It was our fourth game in 10 days.
“The longer the game was going on, it became a more defensive job for us as much as anything else. It wasn’t a case of playing for penalties.
“In fact, our goal, depending on which line you want to look at, could easily have counted.
“We have to be a bit more creative. You’ve got to get hold of the ball as well, you don’t want to be giving it away casually, particularly to Motherwell.
“We’ll have to try and get a bit more invention.”
You can pick any Celtic player from history to take a penalty to win a game…
Who do you pick and why?
The game was won 4-2 by O’Neill’s men on a penalty shootout, ensuring that the Hoops boss remains unbeaten against Rangers across his two interim spells.
It has set up a Scottish Cup semi-final against St Mirren.
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