MARTIN O’NEILL told Peter Martin he had the opportunity to meet Ange Postecoglou earlier this season but respectfully declined because he didn’t want to bother the Celtic boss.

The former Celtic manager revealed his friend and head of comms Iain Jameson offered to facilitate a meeting between the two after a Motherwell game earlier this season. The treble winning former Hoops gaffer said he would have loved to but didn’t want to disturb Ange while doing his job.

In an interview with PLZ Soccer, he explained: “I went to see them play went they beat Motherwell very easily. My good friend Iain Jamieson was wanting us to meet.

“I would have loved to have done so, I haven’t had a chance to do it, we’ll do it perhaps at the end of the season.

“But it was one of those where the manager is concentrating on the game, that’s the most important thing. You don’t want any interruptions from any unscheduled meetings, regardless of who it is.

“I said to Iain, ‘No, we’ll leave it today. Another day will come.'”

Knowing Ange, he would have been delighted to speak to Martin under most circumstances. They share a lot in common and Ange’s love of the game means meeting a European Cup winner and someone who has held his position at the club would have been something the Australian would have revelled in.

We know Celtic fans would love to see a picture of both managers side by side in the future,

Speaking about Ange and his turnaround at Celtic, Martin can’t be any more complimentary of the man in the Parkhead hot seat:

“He’s done brilliant, absolutely brilliant. He might be a bit disappointed about what happened last week [against Rangers], but he’s been really terrific.

“I have much time for a lot of managers, but where I found that he was particularly good was that he came in, he wasn’t that well known and had a tough old start, but he had to stick to his beliefs.

“He felt he can get this right and with a bit of time something will change. To his eternal credit he did exactly that and got it going.”

Celtic are four games away from winning the title. They have a massive game against The Rangers on Sunday where they could virtually wrap up the title with a victory.

Maybe if we can get the league over the line Martin will go and congratulate the Hoops boss and have a chat.

The Irishman has long gone from Celtic but the love the fans have for the old boss is still there. O’Neill regularly takes part in the Celtic circuit sharing great stories from his time in charge.

1st star are putting on an event at the end of May with Martin, Chris Sutton, Lubo Moravick and others at the SEC. You can grab tickets here.

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