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Martin O’Neill thought he was getting invited to a Dermot Desmond barbecue when the call came through on Monday. He didn’t for a second imagine he was going to be asked to step back into the fire. O’Neill’s head was left spinning by the SOS from the Parkhead powerhouse and it had barely stopped by the time he was unveiled at Celtic Park on Tuesday afternoon. The 73-year-old was given 10 minutes to give the Irish tycoon his decision over stepping into the breach in the wake of Brendan Rodgers’s dramatic exit. But less than 24 hours later it was like he was never away. O’Neill looked somewhere between startled and thrilled to be back at the club when he became a legend following his five-year stint from 2000, where he turned the Hoops into trophy winners and took them to incredible heights in Europe. And it takes a little longer for it all to sink in. O'Neill was at his quick-fire quipping best in the Number Seven suite at Celtic Park and he said: “There I was, minding my own business on the King's Road in London and then I got the call. “I had just finished at talkSPORT and was having a coffee with my wife. “The last time I spoke to Dermot, he’d invited me to a barbecue which he was holding in Dublin before the Irish Open that Rory McIlroy won. “So, that would be quite some months ago. “I thought it could be something like that. I thought this would be the last thing on earth, because Dermot never called me when there was other managers around. “I might have been twiddling my fingers somewhere, I never got a call then. “I honestly didn’t think that I’d be coming back. "I was enjoying myself doing a little bit of punditry here and there. You keep on the periphery of the game but you definitely do miss it, you miss the game. "Maybe, with that sort of buzz you think, could I go back to the touch line again one more time? “He did say, consult your wife and your daughters and stuff like that. My wife was with me, my daughters weren't, so I'd given myself a bit of an excuse that I'd have to speak to my daughters, although they were all on for it, you know, really all on for it. “And as you can probably tell, it’s still really surreal. It genuinely is. "It’s like a real bit of a shock. I know I joked there by saying ‘what have I done?!” O’Neill couldn’t resist the lure of the old place, despite the psycho-drama around the club right now. The Northern Irishman was meant to be at a lunch with legendary promoter Barry Hearn. Instead he’ll be plotting to take on Falkirk with new right-hand man Shaun Maloney. In recent years he’s been on stage regaining fans with tales from the good old days – now it’s his task to usher in a new dawn. And perhaps even strapping on the old tracksuit bottoms and football socks he made famous a quarter of a century ago. O’Neill said: "I’m 73 years-old, I’ve got to wise up at some stage! I have no idea but if someone throws me an old pair of socks and tells me to stick them on. That’s what (Lisbon Lion and former kit man) John Clarke, who I miss, used to do, but at this age I’ll need to wise up. “Do you know what? I think that’s part of the excitement, believe it or not. “I’ve never worried about going into a dressing room to talk to players, regardless of what age I was or what age they were. "I don’t think that's a major thing. “There’s a lad called Pete Carroll, who is a coach in the NFL who won the Super Bowl with Seattle. "He’s still coaching, he looks young and he’s much older than me – a couple of years older. “He’s flying around the place at the minute so he gives me some inspiration.” It’ll be O’Neill’s job to inspire a Celtic squad left stunned by the departure of their gaffer. Maloney took training on Tuesday morning, with the interim boss making his introductions ahead of Falkirk. O’Neill will be back in the dugout for the first time since his short spell at Nottingham Forest – even though this time might be even more short-lived. He said: “I've kind of hid away for a while at the end of it all. Then I see what's happening Forest where I probably didn't feel great about it, getting 19 games. "Then I think, well, my stay was long by comparison to Ange (Postecoglou) - really long, I had a long holiday. "Remarkably, I'd won the last three games of my time there. There was disappointment because I'd spent 10 years as a player there. “I think the, for want of a better word, the buzz that you would get from being in a dugout, I don't think that would change regardless of how long you're out.” O’Neill remains young at heart, but there are some modern aspects of the game he’s happy to resist – like stats-driven stuff such as expected goals. He joked: “I don’t (believe in it). If the backroom lads come up with it then I’ll strike it off the list! “I’ve no idea, honestly. It’s not affecting anything. It doesn’t get you a corner, there’s really nothing to it. “I can imagine 50 years ago and Brian Clough rollicking me for missing two goals and me saying they were expected goals! Seriously, you wouldn’t play again for a month!” O’Neill will stick to his tried and tested methods instead – and he knows exactly what is required in these parts. He said: “There are some really fine footballers at this club. My message will be: Win. “I know it’s an easy thing to say, but you have to find a way to win. “The club has been winning for a long time but they haven’t in a little while. It’s about finding a way to get going again and once you start winning then all the little plans you want to put in place are almost seamless.”
