{"id":256409,"date":"2025-11-11T07:31:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T07:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/256409\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T07:31:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T07:31:10","slug":"martin-oneills-unseen-celtic-message-escapes-dressing-room-as-old-school-label-ripped-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/256409\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin O’Neill’s unseen Celtic message escapes dressing room as ‘old school’ label ripped apart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke McCowan admits it feels like he has stepped inside a Parkhead time machine since working with the interim boss(Image: SNS Group)<\/p>\n

Luke McCowan felt like he was in a magical Time Machine when Martin O\u2019Neill<\/a> walked back into Celtic.<\/p>\n

But, while bombarded with questions from his dad about the boss, the midfielder reckons he\u2019s been too scared himself to ask the gaffer about the trophy-laden old days at Parkhead.<\/p>\n

McCowan reckons he could be travelling through three decades of Parkhead folklore when he steps into Lennoxtown.<\/p>\n

At his side in the dressing room, he\u2019s got stars of the Ange Postecoglou and Brendan Rodgers <\/a>winning sides of the 2020s such as Jota, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Daizen Maeda.<\/p>\n

Beside them are club heroes like Kieran Tierney, Callum McGregor and James Forrest who have been collecting medals since the 2010s under managers such as Neil Lennon, Ronny Deila as well as Rodgers in his first stint.<\/p>\n

And leading from the front is the icon of Celtic<\/a>\u2019s 2000s in O\u2019Neill with one of his charges from those days at his side in Shaun Maloney.<\/p>\n

McCowan may not have started school when the boss took charge the first time, but he knew all about his hero status and subsequent exploits.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill\u2019s Treble win in season one was just a third in Celtic\u2019s history and it was the same number chalked-up in terms of European finals when he led famed charges such as Henrik Larsson to the Seville showpiece of the 2003 UEFA Cup.<\/p>\n

Celtic Interim manager Martin O’Neill <\/p>\n

McCowan gave an insight into what he felt when the iconic Parkhead boss returned and smiled: \u201cI thought I was in a time machine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of been like that, even Jota coming back as well and Kieran coming back. You\u2019re kind of like: What the heck\u2019s going on here?<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd, when he [O\u2019Neill] came in, all I could think about was the UEFA Cup Final, what did he say in the dressing room? Lucky enough, I could just ask Shaun.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s been amazing. He\u2019s got that aura and almost legendary status at this club, so fair play to him coming back and helping us out when we kind of needed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCowan undoubtedly has plenty of enquiries about the successful period O’Neill savoured during his first spell, the magical moments, the famous wins and the outstanding characters that he guided.<\/p>\n

But questions are on hold for the time being as he said: \u201cNo, I\u2019m too scared. I\u2019m going to wait. It\u2019s too serious at the moment. We\u2019re all focusing on games, left, right and centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019ll be a time for that if they are still about for international break because I\u2019m not going anywhere. If he\u2019s about, he’ll get a few questions then.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just McCowan that is looking for answers. His father is also keen to hear all about the magic of working with O\u2019Neill and explained the excitement of his old man at the return.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cHe was buzzing. He kept pestering me with questions, but I\u2019m just trying to play it cool. You\u2019ve just got to kind of go: Aye, it\u2019s alright, it\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we all know it\u2019s nice to have the gaffer here and what he brought before. He\u2019s obviously replicating that again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much is made of O\u2019Neill\u2019s approach to the game. With a grounding from Brian Clough, simplicity has often been the key.<\/p>\n

As opposed to being bogged down in stats and modern jargon, the manager was always feted for offering clear instruction and concise messaging.<\/p>\n

However, to suggest he is merely old school would clearly be an insult to his footballing intelligence and his acumen.<\/p>\n

Celtic interim manager Martin O’Neill on the touchline <\/p>\n

As O\u2019Neill said himself following the Euro defeat to Midtjylland last week that, although some things change in football, some stay exactly the same and it was his job to try and teach the squad on some important matters during his time at the helm.<\/p>\n

McCowan is aware of what people say about O\u2019Neill simplifying football and that managing these days would be a new experience for him, but he countered: \u201cYes, but there are still tactics within that. It\u2019s not just, let\u2019s just kick it long.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, he comes in with the message of \u2018defenders do your job first, attackers score your goals,\u2019 whatever it may be.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the message that\u2019s from him. But we\u2019ve got so much tactics within that, that it\u2019s not just him that comes in and it\u2019s his one message.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s everybody within the staff that\u2019s at the club, all the boys, have got valued comments on how we\u2019re playing, what we\u2019re doing. The messages are clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gaffer brings that message, but there\u2019s so many tactics within it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Whatever has been said between the combination of O\u2019Neill and Maloney as well as their coaching staff in the past fortnight, it has brought three straight domestic wins with the defeat in Denmark the only setback in four matches.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s 4-0 win over Kilmarnock was an impressive way to sign off <\/a>for the international break and McCowan said: \u201cYeah, I think especially off the back of the European game, we knew we had to come to our home ground and put a good performance on first and that should lead to a positive result.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill thinks he\u2019ll find out this week if he is to continue in the job, but McCowan will be there long term and will keep working whilst team-mates are on international duty.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI\u2019ll be in Lennoxtown. I\u2019ll come on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and then maybe give myself the weekend off. We\u2019ll see how hard I\u2019ve worked after Thursday!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luke McCowan admits it feels like he has stepped inside a Parkhead time machine since working with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[2817,2600,218,62762,18670,23925,53218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-256409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-celtic-fc","tag-europa-league","tag-football","tag-henrik-larsson","tag-james-forrest","tag-luke-mccowan","tag-neil-lennon","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}