Marvin Bartley has opened up on a hilarious touchline exchange with Shaun Maloney during Livingston’s dramatic defeat at Celtic Park back in February.
The match itself was already chaotic enough. Livingston were seconds away from leaving Glasgow with a point before Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain came off the bench and scored a late winner for Celtic in stoppage time. It kept Martin O’Neill’s side alive in the title race and completely changed the mood inside the stadium.
But according to Bartley, there was another moment during the game he has not forgotten either.
Maloney remains part of O’Neill’s coaching staff heading into Saturday’s Scottish Cup Final against Dunfermline and has become a big figure behind the scenes since returning to Celtic Park earlier this season. His energy on the touchline has been obvious during games and Bartley admitted he had previous run-ins with him before, dating back to Maloney’s spell at Hibernian.
The incident happened after a Livingston player went down with a head knock late in the match.
Bartley was holding the ball near the dugout while Livingston wanted to restart quickly. That led to a heated exchange involving Maloney, although Bartley clearly found the whole thing more funny than serious while telling the story.
To be fair to Maloney, there are always two sides to these moments during games. Coaching staff are emotional, especially in tight matches late in the season when every point matters. Celtic desperately needed the win that night and the pressure around the dugout was obvious.
Still, Bartley’s retelling of the moment has gone down hilariously with supporters online.
He said: (Open Goal), “Yeah. Like, I’ve had a couple with him on the sidelines. Yeah, yeah, like, really aggressive. Once when he was at Hibs and then, when we played them at Celtic Park in the game, obviously, Oxlade-Chamberlain scored right at the end.
“The ball went off. One of their players went down with a head knock and the ball came into our dugout, so I was holding the ball. I think it was Tounekti came and said, ‘Give me the ball.’
“I was like, ‘Mate, your player’s down behind you. Like, on the floor.’
“He’s like, ‘Bro, just give me the ball.’
“And I was like, ‘Yeah, your player’s down.’
“I looked to my left and then Shaun literally came right next to me. He’s like, ‘Son, just give him the ball back.’
“I was like, ‘Who the f*** are you calling son?’
“Yeah. He’s like, ‘No.’
“I was like, ‘Honestly, who the f*** are you calling son?’
“And I saw him after. He’s like, ‘No, I didn’t mean it that way. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful.’
“I said, ‘But who are you calling son?’
“Yeah, sonned me off, man.
“The closest I’ve been to a red card is a manager on the side.”
Managers and coaches lose the head all the time during games. Most of it disappears once the final whistle goes. This one clearly stuck with Bartley though.
And judging by the way he told the story, Maloney probably knows exactly why.
thats how hes sacked Im more worried about name than whats going on in pitch i hope that dosent me hes back on tv so full off himself if he was white he wouldnt be near that job like most things on tv need to square things up need to see that black people are not been left black and white mixed families it so unreal im not racist im just saying what white black people say why not all white family or all black families so think your lucky more black people are better treated than every because of there colour and thats not racist i just think the best for the job no matter what colour