Me!
First of all a bit about me. My name is Nicky (full name Nichola ;o) and i'm 18 years old. I'm a huge Celtic and Martin O'Neill fan and i have been for a long time now. I enjoy watching football, going out, reading and listeing to music. I've just left school and hopefully in September i'll be going to study at University.
I became a Martin O'Neill fan when he joined Celtic 2 years ago, before i can honestly say that i'd never heard of him. Since he has come to Celtic he has made a massive impact on me and every Celtic supporter around the world. His style of managment is unique, he can be darting about on the touchline one minute and then addressing a press conference in a shirt and tie the next. But thats just the mark of a man who is not only a truly amazing manager but a truly amazing person. A god to the Celtic faithful he will always be.
I decided to make this page as a very simple tribute, to say thanks and let the whole world know exactly how brilliant a manager and person Martin O'Neill is!
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Martin O'Neill - A breif history
Martin was born on the 1st of March 1952 in Kilrea, a small farming town 15 miles from Belfast. He is one of nine children and had a passion for sport at an early age, he especially excelled in the sport of gaelic football.
Martin's family moved to Belfast when he was 16, he successfully managed to enter Queens University Belfast where he studied law. His love for football took over however and when he was 19 he was approached by Nottingham Forest to play in England.
His early years at Forest were shaky but he soon became established under another great manager, Brian Clough. Under Clough Martin made more than 200 apperances, he won a league medal in 1978, two league cups in '78 and '79 and the European Cup in 1980.
After Forest he went on to have breif associations with Norwich and Manchester City up until a knee injury ended his career before he was 33. Amongst all this he made 64 appearances for N.Ireland and captained the team in the '82 World Cup.
For two years he searched for coaching work until non-league Grantham took him on, a job which paid only £60 a week(!). He moved to Wycombe Wanderers where in 1993 his managerial career took off. He went on to lead Wycombe out of the conference and a year later he had them in the second divsion. Many clubs moved in for Martin but after troubles with the chairman he moved to Leicester City.
With Leicester he led them to win the leauge cup in 1997 and 2000. He had attracted alot of attention from bigger clubs but in the summer of 2000 he went to Celtic.
1st June 2000, Martin stood on the steps of Parkhead and uttered these words "I will do everything i possibly can, to bring some success to this football club." Little did Celtic fans know at the time the amount of success the Irishman would bring. In his first season he led Celtic to a historic Treble and most recently has led us to league victory once again.
He has now made his mark as one of the most extraordinary and brilliant managers in the UK today.
Interesting Martin facts.
Martins hero growing up was Ferenc Puskas.
He heard as a young boy that the hungarian genius could keep up a tennis ball 200 times and sure enough by the end of the week Martin had emulated that feat. His brother recalled "After a week and a half, Martin had accomplished the 200 with ease."
At school Martin gained 3 A-Levels.
Martin is a fan of U2 and attended a gig in Glasgow a while back with Neil Lennon and Joos Valgaeren.
Martins full name is, Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill.
Martins starsign is Pisces.
If you would like a more indepth history of Martin as a player and a manager please click this link. Its a very good site and well worth visiting. |
