Martin O’Neill was famous for cunning wit and cutting criticism when he was the Celtic manager. He kept the former for the players and the latter for the Scottish press.
Ange Postecoglou reminds me of the legendary Celtic manager as the Aussie seems to have those same qualities about him.
But this afternoon, O’Neill took an opportunity to wind up his star signing on live TV. The former Celtic manager was ribbing Sutton by comparing his goalscoring record to Alan Shearer’s whilst at Blackburn Rovers. And then in a quick change of tact, O’Neill opened up with a refreshing display of affection on live TV for his former striker.
Speaking pre-match on Viaplay, O’Neill said, “I just want to say this now that he was an absolute game-changer for us at the time. We had just lost Mark Viduka at the time who was heading off to Leeds.
“If he had not come up and came at the time, our early start to the season may not have been as fruitful. So I will give him that. He was brilliant for us.”
And wasn’t he just? Big Sutton gave us some brilliant memories as a Celtic striker.
His goal in the first minute of the 6-2 hammering of Rangers in his first-ever Glasgow Derby was the quickest goal ever recorded in the meetings between the two.
He also had a deft assist for Henrik Larsson’s world-class chip over Stefan Klos.
Sutton also made his mark on the European stage for us terrorising teams like Juventus in the Champions League and Liverpool and Blackburn in the famous UEFA Cup run of 2003.
There is absolutely no doubt that Celtic would not have had the success we enjoyed if Sutton never joined us and the fact that O’Neill recognised that on live TV was a touch of class from the former Celtic manager.
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