Martin the Magnificent: The Future of Irish Football

2014 | Biography

In November 2013, Martin O'Neill was appointed manager of the Republic of Ireland's national football team, with Roy Keane as his assistant manager. For Ireland, and for football itself, the coming together of these two legends is a dream combination. Martin O'Neill is one of the most brilliant, successful and intriguing of the new managers to emerge from British football. This new and revised edition of Simon Moss's acclaimed biography brings O'Neill's story right up to date, offering a rare insight into the beliefs, lifestyle and ambitions of this private and complex football man. A talented midfielder who played for Nottingham Forest and then Manchester City in between spells at Norwich, O'Neill captained Northern Ireland in the 1982 World Cup - the first Roman Catholic to do so - when his side reached the quarter-finals, famously beating the hosts, Spain, on the way. Ending his playing career in 1985, his managerial stock grew with the years; under his tutelage, Leicester City went from under-achieving first-division outfit to League Cup winners.

However, it was at Celtic that O'Neill was to enjoy his most trophy-laden years, winning an unprecedented treble in his first season before narrowly missing out on UEFA Cup glory a year later. Having left Celtic, his 'spiritual home', to care for his wife as she battled cancer, he returned to football in 2006, first with Aston Villa and then, less happily, with Sunderland. Then came the call from Ireland - For any football fan, this is the definitive biography of the man known during his Celtic days as 'Martin the Magnificent'.

Simon Moss (Author)