Martin O’Neill might have managed the Republic of Ireland but part of his heart will always remain in Scotland.
A particular corner of it, to be specific.
It’s been 17 years since O’Neill’s five-year reign at Celtic ended but the bond has never been broken.
The Northern Irish manager’s silver laden spell in charge has made him a fans’ favourite forever but these days the feeling is mutual.
O’Neill is a supporter as well – and he admitted his family are even bigger die hards now than they were when he was in the dugout.
But he might not win a popularity vote in his own house if he’s up against current boss Ange Postecoglou.
The 70-year-old is looking forward to both of his adopted countries clashing in Dublin in the Nations League tomorrow and he said: “I have two daughters and one of them is now a bigger Celtic fan now than when I was manager, which is a major disappointment to me!
“She’s running around, 'Ange, Ange, Ange'. She’s got a three year old who is in front of the TV shouting, ‘come on Celtic!’”
O’Neill is now based in London but the nostalgia circuit drags him back along with punditry duties.
And he admits Glasgow still feels like home – and it always will.
O’Neill said: “I’ve honestly missed it so much. Seriously.
“My wife, who hated every place she’d been to in her life, absolutely loved it in Scotland.
“If she ever goes to heaven – which she won’t – she’d complain about that as well!
“But she loved it here and I was the same. It was great.
“You’d wake up and look out the window and not know if it was June or October.
“But that didn’t matter to us coming from Northern Ireland.
“I came up to do the Motherwell game [on the final day of the season] with Stiliyan Petrov and the atmosphere and the singing, it brings it all back to you.
“I had great days, the torch is passed, the manger is going great and it all looks rosy.
“I did five years – it was like five minutes. I do miss it, absolutely.
“You will always do that, I think the dying breath will be, was there a game on Saturday?”
Well there is a game this Saturday, but it’s not involving his beloved Celtic.
There’s plenty of intrigue though for O’Neill as Ireland – who he led to Euro 2016 during his five years in charge – hosting Scotland in the Nations League.
Diplomatic, was how you’d describe his thoughts on the current Republic set up.
Stephen Kenny’s reign started poorly then picked up.
But losing to Ukraine the other night on the back of the shock defeat to an Armenia side that wouldn’t look out of place in the Powerleague has cranked up the heat on our Celtic cousins.
O’Neill said: “Where are Ireland right now? That’s a really good question. The Armenia game was a big, big setback. Sometimes you get a couple of results in matches against sides who are not in the top 80 – teams like Andorra, Lithuania. You can start to get a false impression of where you are.
“Then you travel to Armenia fully expecting to win and get off to a bad start. It was a major setback for them.
“I suppose a couple of years into Stephen’s reign you’d have to ask… I think there are a couple of things about it.
“If his remit was to rebuild an Irish side and get time to do that then that’s fine. But in international football you still have to win football matches.”
As for Scotland, O’Neill sounds slightly more optimistic, even though he believes the scars from the World Cup play-off defeat to Ukraine will require more healing than a stroll against the abject Armenians.
O’Neill said: “If Scotland are at full strength they have some really, really decent players playing for them at the minute. I do think there has been an improvement in Scotland in recent times. But it depends how quickly they can get over that disappointment. They just have to push it to the side. Andy Robertson is playing for Liverpool, John McGinn is playing for Aston Villa and playing super. There are some really decent players.
“They had battled so strongly to get there and had some fantastic moments over the last few months, getting last-minute goals and everything going in their direction.
“It was really disappointing as far as Scotland are concerned. I know that some of the pundits were trying to soften the blow afterwards by saying Scotland will come again and that’s true, they will.
“I think they are strong enough but that takes a bit longer to get over because World Cups are not every 10 minutes.”
Scotland and Ireland look fairly evenly matched – and they have similar problems.
O’Neill reckons there’s a reason Wales have managed to do what their pals have not.
They have the kind of world class performer in the final third in Gareth Bale that the Scots and Irish crave.
O’Neill said: “You need that difference maker. When I was managing the Republic, Robbie Keane was ending his career. He was about 34 and he just couldn’t do it.
“We would have cried out for a Robbie Keane to be maybe 10 years younger but we didn’t have that.
“Scotland do not possess a Gareth Bale at the minute and Ireland haven’t had one since Robbie Keane in his heyday. Everyone is crying out for that and that is probably the difference between Scotland not heading there.”
Martin O’Neill was promoting Premier Sports live and exclusive coverage of Republic of Ireland v Scotland.
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