Martin O’Neill has revealed he has not spoken to Jim White since their heated on-air exchange following Celtic’s dramatic Scottish Premiership title win over Hearts in May.
The pair clashed live on talkSPORT in the aftermath of Callum Osmand’s stoppage-time goal, that gave Celtic a 2-goal lead over Hearts, with White challenging O’Neill over the pitch invasion at Celtic Park and suggestions it had tarnished Celtic’s title triumph.
O’Neill continued to push back, but White was relentless and kept pressing the manager.
Now, O’Neill has explained why the disagreement has lingered.
Speaking about the interview, the Celtic boss said his biggest issue was the way claims made during the discussion were handled.
“I haven’t spoken to Jim since.
“Where my problem was with Jim was that when the shareholder of Hearts [Tony Bloom] said one or two players had been hit, and Jim didn’t progress that as a normal journalist would have done.
“They didn’t get hit. They didn’t. In fact, if you actually talk about it, I think that one of their players snatched a phone. There was taunting going on, I agree, [but he] actually smashed his phone on the ground.
“So there’s evidence of that, but there’s not evidence of any of the players being hit.
“I know Jim’s modus operandi, so I would have expected [it], but to say that it tarnished the afternoon, no, it didn’t tarnish the afternoon for me.
“I got great, great pleasure out of the team winning. Great pleasure indeed. One of the great moments of my managerial time.
“And strangely enough, had the reverse happened, had Hearts scored that goal, and some of those fans come onto the pitch, Hearts fans coming on just before the end of the game, I don’t think that would have tarnished their winning of the league, which would have been remarkable.” [The Herald]
During the original interview, he strongly rejected Hearts’ description of the pitch invasion as an “embarrassment to Scottish football” and repeatedly argued there had been “a lot of hyperbole” surrounding the events at Celtic Park.
While the Celtic manager acknowledged there had been taunting between supporters and Hearts players, there is no evidence to support claims that opposition players were physically assaulted, despite claims from the Jambos.
White had Tony Bloom on his show, and allowed him to peddle teh narrative of assaults, with no pushback. That seems to have – rightly – angered O’Neill, too.
It’s clear the disagreement with White has not been forgotten, with O’Neill still believing the presenter failed to challenge a key allegation that, in his view, has never been substantiated.
The gaffer was a regular on the show, but it’s doubtful he’ll be callin in anytime soon.
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