MARTIN O’Neill will always be remembered for his witty comebacks, as well as the success he brought to the club.
During his time at Celtic, he looked to add to his squad by signing Leicester City players, including Matt Elliot.
Elliot recently revealed on the podcast Under the Cosh how he had a conversation with Martin O’Neill regarding his potential move to Celtic.
He wanted a big contract, which O‘Neill responded to with a cutting joke. He asked if he was speaking to ‘Zinedine f’n Zidane‘, in reference to the Real Madrid and France great.
The 71–year–old was known for his sharp wit and it appears he was not shy in using it during transfer talks.
In the end, Elliot stayed with Leicester, much to his disappointment, but the former Scotland international was able to iron out the matter with O‘Neill and the pair moved on.
Opening up on the conversation, Elliot said: [RecordSport]
“When Martin left it was assumed he would come back for a few players. It started with Neil Lennon, then Steve Guppy, but my family was settled, but a year down the line things changed and things weren’t going well at Leicester.
“We had dialogue indirectly and it came to the point where I thought it was going to happen. I said to my agent that if I was going to go and relocate, go big, I was 32 and it was going to be my last contract, go for it and have a bit of a laugh with figures.
“Whatever needs to be done, add a bit on. Bear in mind the agent has gone in heavy, I have picked the phone up. It was a bit of silence and it was Martin’s voice.
“‘Hello there, am I speaking to Zinedine f’N Zidane?’ I think the agent must have gone too heavy!
“He said ‘I know I like you but I don’t like you that much’ Leicester then decided to give me a four-year contract at 32, and then Martin fell out with me, he thought I was playing one off against the other.
“We cleared it up but he wouldn’t talk to me for a while, I thought I had let him down and I was devastated as it was the last thing I wanted to do.”
