Martin O'Neill gets 'real surprise' with huge milestone as Celtic boss lauded by Europa League foe

The 73-year-old Northern Irishman will rack up his millennium in the dugout when Celtic host Stuttgart in the Europa League knockout play-off round first leg tonight.

It appeared for all intents and purposes that a distinguished managerial career had ended on 981 games.

O’Neill was six years into retirement when he got the call from principal shareholder Dermot Desmond in October to return to the club he previously managed with great success more than two decades ago.

It appeared 989 might be the revised final figure when his interim spell ended with the appointment of Wilfried Nancy but his quick return following the Frenchman’s short-lived tenure has brought him to a landmark he had been unaware of.

O’Neill expressed “real surprise” when the League Manager’s Association contacted him on Tuesday to inform him that he was being entered into their Hall of Fame 1,000 Club. He finds himself in esteemed company with his former Nottingham Forest manager, the legendary Brian Clough, among a list of high-profile members which also includes Alex Ferguson, Carlo Ancelotti, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola.

O’Neill will be formally inducted at the LMA Annual Awards dinner in May. He will hope to do so having marked his 1000th match with a victory that will give Celtic a fighting chance of reaching the last 16 ahead of next week’s second leg in Germany.

‘I’d never counted the games’

“It’s a real surprise because I’d never counted the games, genuinely never,” said the former boss of Leicester, Aston Villa and the Republic of Ireland, among several others.

“So when the LMA (League Managers Association) told me yesterday about it, it did come as a big surprise to me. It’s nice to do, really pleasing but I have to thank Celtic, otherwise it wouldn’t have happened.”

This is certainly true. The dramatic injury-time victory at Kilmarnock on Sunday was his 300th in charge of Celtic – more than any other club.

By the time this season finishes, O’Neill will have hit a minimum of 1014 games. Possibly more depending on progression in the Europa League and Scottish Cup.

The assumption is that he will then settle back into retirement, but could a successful end to the campaign tempt him to remain at Celtic in some capacity? Asked if he could continue beyond this season, he said: “That’s too far in the future for me, genuinely too far in the future.”

The visit of Stuttgart brings back memories of O’Neill’s famous run to the Uefa Cup final with Celtic back in 2003, which ended with defeat to Porto in Seville. The Germans were defeated 5-4 on aggregate in the last 16 after a 3-1 victory at Parkhead was followed by a 3-2 defeat on the road.

“Stuttgart were a very fine side then, so for us over the two games to come through was big news for us,” O’Neill recalled. “As for the present team, I’ve watched them, but we’ve had scouts out watching them live and the reports coming back are the same things that I see for myself on the screen. Really, really, really fine team."

‘Celtic one of the toughest draws we could have got’

Stuttgart boss Sebastian Hoeness praised O’Neill for turning around a “turbulent” season at Celtic. O’Neill has guided the Hoops back to within three points of Premiership leaders Hearts with a game in hand and out of the group stage of the Europa League. Hoeness said: “The highest respect for his career. It’s a life achievement, over 1000 games is unbelievable.

“Now he’s back again, he’s 73 and showed in the last weeks that he knows how to manage a team. I expect a lot. They are a team who have had a very turbulent season with lots of changes of coach.

“The current coach is there for the second time this season and has been at the club multiple times and has a special history here and he is a very experienced coach.

“It’s a team who have really found form recently after they had ups and downs this season. They’ve played a lot of games but they’ve gone 10 games undefeated.

“It’s one of the toughest draws we could have got but one of the most exciting, given we have the chance to play in this historic stadium.

“I think that gives the team power and energy and we’ll have to be able to counter that but we’re prepared for the task ahead.

“It’ll be very challenging but these are the games you want to play when you’re in Europe so we’re going to try and create a good position for ourselves going into the second game next week.”