{"id":632093,"date":"2026-09-22T04:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T04:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/632093\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T04:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T04:20:14","slug":"martin-oneill-must-be-pondering-his-pension-as-parkhead-silenced-after-noise-of-honeygate-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/632093\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin O\u2019Neill must be pondering his pension as Parkhead silenced after noise of honeygate \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

That wasn\u2019t the best of weeks for Martin O\u2019Neill<\/a>. Three defeats in three competitions, two of them by, of all people, Rangers<\/a>, with an erroneous honeygate scandal thrown in for good measure. <\/p>\n

It was only recently that he wondered out loud if he was of sound mind when he went back into football management. \u201cI\u2019d like to know what normal life is like again \u2013 because this is not normal,\u201d he said. And watching him on that Parkhead<\/a> sideline on Sunday, he had the look of a fellah pining for permanent pensionhood.<\/p>\n

If technical areas for managers hadn\u2019t been introduced back in the day, he\u2019d most probably have been prowling the touchline in a marginally demented manner; instead he was like a caged lion inside his square metre enclosure. <\/p>\n

You could hear a pin drop when Rangers scored, which was largely down to no Rangers fans being in the stadium. That they only scored one goal was up there with the Miracle of Fatima in the mysterious stakes, but Martin dug his heels in post-match when he spoke with Sky\u2019s Luke Shanley and insisted the game was actually very close.<\/p>\n

Chris Sutton professed his love for Martin \u2013 Martin having been his gaffer in olden times \u2013 so he apologised for disagreeing with him. \u201cI can\u2019t actually remember a Celtic team getting such a doing at Celtic Park,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I will reflect and see\u2019 – Martin O\u2019Neill considering future at Celtic after Old Firm lossOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Luke hadn\u2019t been brave enough to make this same point to Martin, but he was, perhaps, mindful of honeygate.<\/p>\n

Lest you missed it, that\u2019s when Martin was a bit tetchy with TNT Sport\u2019s Connie McLaughlin when they had a natter before the Europa League game against Ferencvaros. He was especially irritable when she asked him about his decision to swap goalkeepers.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I\u2019ll not talk to you about the thinking behind that,\u201d he said. \u201cBelieve it or not, Connie, my job is not actually to explain every single situation to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RoyRoy Keane watches Celtic and Rangers on September 20th. Photograph: Craig Foy\/SNS Group via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Need it be said, the entire interweb thought he\u2019d said \u201cbelieve it or not, honey…\u201d, so he was dubbed a Neanderthal misogynistic oaf, and the like. In defence of the man, when it comes to being tetchy with reporters, and occasionally obnoxious, he\u2019s an equal opportunities kind of man. Just ask Tony O\u2019Donoghue. <\/p>\n

Anyhow, Roberto De Zerbi could certainly relate to Martin\u2019s current woes. Although it should be pointed out here that Celtic are actually still top of their league table, while Spurs are bottom of theirs, so the comparison has its flaws. <\/p>\n

Where it stands up is that Roberto was 46 when he took over as Spurs manager in March and he now looks \u2013 and no doubt feels \u2013 74. It\u2019s been a trial. And it must have felt like he was in nappies the last time Spurs scored a league goal. <\/p>\n

\"TottenhamTottenham Hotspur’s Italian head coach Roberto De Zerbi. Photograph: Ben Stansall\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Before their game against Aston Villa on Saturday, TNT\u2019s Jules Breach told us the exciting news that the channel had \u201cenhanced access\u201d which would allow us see in to the dressingrooms before the game. It was, to be honest, less exciting than it sounded \u2013 our view was much like that from a Ring doorbell camera thingy, and there was no sound. So we just saw lads fiddling with their shin pads and the like. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you use the last few minutes before a game,\u201d Jules asked Joe Cole. \u201cYou might have to sort something out with your boots,\u201d he said, \u201cyou might want to grab a jelly baby … you might have to go to the toilet, in the nicest possible way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armed with that insight, it was time to watch the game in the company of Darren Fletcher and Ally \u201cAbsalooly Fletch\u201d McCoist. And the Miracle of Fatima was almost topped. <\/p>\n

Fletch: \u201cStop the presses! Tottenham Hotspur have scored!\u201d <\/p>\n

Ally: \u201cI think he might be offside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fletch: \u201cYou\u2019re right. Start the presses again.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, hold your horses, Spurs not only went on to score, they managed the feat twice. True, they lost, but still. <\/p>\n

Manchester United, meanwhile, have soared to 12th in the table after their draw with Fulham, Gary Neville overwhelmed by their performance. \u201cI\u2019ve watched United since I was five and that\u2019s the worst I\u2019ve ever seen them play \u2013 absolutely pathetic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Come full-time, Nev sounded so weary you sensed he was pining for permanent pensionhood from punditry. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That wasn\u2019t the best of weeks for Martin O\u2019Neill. Three defeats in three competitions, two of them by,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2675,15011,18920,42,917,65855,43,1102,45872,40,38,41,39,3568],"class_list":["post-632093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-celtic","tag-europa-league","tag-gary-neville","tag-headlines","tag-manchester-united","tag-martin-o-neill","tag-news","tag-premier-league","tag-rangers","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-tottenham-hotspur"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}