Martin O’Neill, to many, is one of Leicester City’s best managers in the club’s history.
Joining in 1995, O’Neill spent five incredible years at Filbert Street which included promotion to the Premier League, two League Cup triumphs and two UEFA Cup campaigns.
O’Neill was adored by all in the East Midlands but in the summer of 2000, decided to move on to pastures new and go north of the border to Celtic.
Despite leaving, the Northern Irishman has fond memories of Leicester and is still very popular amongst the fanbase.
There was an understandable sense of disappointment that O’Neill chose to leave but he has since revealed what made him move on.
Martin O’Neill on leaving Leicester City for Celtic
At Celtic, O’Neill was just as successful as he was at Leicester and won over their support as he became the first manager since Jock Stein to win a Treble and the first to guide them to a major European final.
Shortly before his Filbert Street exit, O’Neill lost his main talisman Emile Heskey to Liverpool for a then-record club sale of £11m.
During a Q and A on his X account in 2022, O’Neill was asked if he would’ve stayed at Leicester had he been given more financial backing but he admitted that once Celtic came calling, only one option was viable.
He said: “It didn’t have anything to do with the backing, the Chairman Mr Elsom was going to let me have some of the Emile Heskey’s transfer money to use for summer signings.
“It was just the lure of Celtic, but Leicester remains a great time of my life.”
Meanwhile, during an appearance on The Football Authorities, O’Neill added that it took a “long time to think about leaving Leicester” but “about two seconds to make your mind up by going to Celtic”.
Martin O’Neill could’ve returned to Leicester in 2011
Following a successful stint at Celtic, O’Neill returned to England to take charge of Aston Villa. He backed that up with three consecutive sixth-placed finishes and a League Cup final – which they lost to Manchester United before surprisingly being sacked.
Whilst out of work and looking for a job the Foxes’ managerial role became available after Sven Goran-Eriksson was sacked, but, he turned down any chance of a fairytale return after wanting to remember the memories he had from earlier in his career.
Instead, he would go on to manage Sunderland before a spell in charge of Nottingham Forest, where he won the European Cup as a player.
O’Neill also managed the Republic of Ireland but has been out of work since leaving Forest in 2019.