Angry Martin O’Neill clashes with TNT Reporter over ‘Real Celtic’ question after historic Stuttgart win that got the Boss Furious.
Martin O’Neill was involved in an awkward exchange with a TNT Sports reporter after Celtic made history in the Europa League by defeating Stuttgart in Germany.The victory marked the Parkhead side’s first-ever win on German soil in the club’s long and uninterrupted history.
Yet rather than focusing on the achievement, TNT Sports took the conversation in a different direction — one that clearly irked O’Neill.
Martin O’Neill left perplexed by TNT Sports’ ‘real Celtic’ question
O’Neill would have been pleased with the outcome, but the tone of the interview suggested otherwise. TNT Sports’ Connie McLaughlin asked the Celtic manager, “Commiserations, obviously out of the competition. But was that the real Celtic tonight in terms ofperformance?”
O’Neill appeared taken aback as he responded, “I think that you’re saying about a real Celtic, I mean we’ve turned up quite a number of times in recent times.
“And for instance, if you just go back to Sunday, we had the majority of the game. I don’t think if we had a man sent off, we might create a couple more chances, maybe, to win the game.
“So I thought we played really well in the match overall. In the game that you’re talking about in the first leg, we let it run away from us, and have given away some soft goals.
“But tonight, yeah, I agree with you. Ithink that it was a brilliant backs to the wall performance. It was at some stage or another, but we still had chances in the game.
“And you never know, had Seb scored that one towards the end of the game, it might have been a nervy few minutes for what I consider a very, very good team, a team capable of winning this competition.”
Martin O’Neill pushes back on TNT Sports’ ‘consistency’ angle
Not stopping there, McLaughlin followed up with another pointed question regarding Celtic’s consistency under O’Neill.
McLaughlin: “But to do all the things you want to do and have all the success that you’re desperate to have with this clubyou’re desperate to have with this club, the consistency of that, if we want to call it the real Celtic, I guess, is that is that the biggest frustration? Because you know that they can do they’ve got it in them.”
O’Neill: “Well, you have to explain to me, what do you mean by consistency?”
McLaughlin: “Winning games, I mean.”
O’Neill: “Winning games? Well, that’s what we’ve been doing. We lost two games. We’ve lost two matches there recently, one against Stuttgart at home, and the other one against Hibs, when I said to you, we played really well in the game.“So I’m really sorry, I’m going to have to disagree with you.”
It was an unusual line of questioning, and it is no surprise that O’Neill seemed confused by it.
Celtic have suffered just three defeats in 21 matches across two interim spells under O’Neill. If that does not qualify as steady form, it raises the question of what threshold is being applied.
The interview feels more uncomfortable with each replay, but for O’Neill the focus now shifts elsewhere. With another slice of European history secured, his attention turns to Rangers on Sunday — and the opportunity to build further momentum domestically.