What makes this offering extra special and all the more admirable in a world of ghost writers for sporting stars and celebrities is that the charismatic O’Neill penned it himself and when I say penned it, I mean it because Northern Ireland’s 1982 World Cup captain started writing his autobiography in long hand on pieces of paper before family helped transcribe his wonderful wit and wisdom on to a laptop. Martin O’Neill is widely regarded as one of the most respected figures in football with a career spanning more than 50 years. A key part of Brian Clough’s legendary Nottingham Forest team in the ‘70s and early ‘80s, he represented Northern Ireland more than 60 times and led them to the 1982 World Cup. A really fine footballer. Terrific. What he knew about management, you could box in a thimble. We all might have some sort of ego but it can’t all be about you.” The relationship between O’Neill and the Irish football media during a five-year international tenure remains a source of fascination. We shall return to that later. It would be unfair, as some have suggested, to depict O’Neill’s memoir as a score-settling exercise. Yes, there is occasionally acerbic comment – one would surely expect no less – but an extraordinary career which scaled playing heights under Brian Clough before touching managerial greatness at Celtic and Leicester is depicted with an entertaining tone. There is self-deprecation throughout. Kilrea’s most famous son and music lover supreme can turn a phrase so well you think there might be a novel in him. There’s some golden lines, not least when he meets Clough for the first time. Like Martin O’Neill, the footballer and manager, this is a triumph for the first-time author.

There are some nice stories in here, but I would have liked to hear more about what Clough was like or what life was like in Glasgow, but he focuses on what happened on the pitch, which is fine. Martin O'Neill: Forget the hardman persona, Roy Keane is articulate, self-deprecating and knows his football Now, for the first time, Martin O’Neill reflects on one of the most varied and interesting football careers in the British Isles. As a manager, his legendary time in charge of Celtic saw them win seven trophies including three Scottish Premier League titles and the UEFA Cup, and he successfully led both Leicester City and Aston Villa to League Cups in England. With Roy Keane as his assistant manager, he oversaw Ireland reaching the Euros for only the third time in their history.For a complicated man, he played a very simple game. He was as good at tactics as anybody but that’s not how he is considered. He is considered a motivator, a shouter or a charmer. He knew the game inside out. He told us things tactically during games that stood the test of time. He would say something to you on a Monday, contradict himself on a Friday and you would believe both.” Mr. O’Neil takes us on a journey that includes his childhood, his professional football career and then his professional management history.

However, at times it felt a little rushed - for example, both his early professional career and how he felt when he won the league with Nottingham Forest seem to be covered very briefly. I wonder whether it would've been better for the great man to divide this book into two tomes: one dealing with his playing career and a sequel with his managerial one. That way, he could've dealt with his many successes and occasional failures in more detail. Martin delves into relationships with family, team-mates, managers, chairmen and those who played under him. The Brian Clough tales and their chemistry, often explosive, is must read material. O’Neill’s memories of a “mesmeric” Clough remain vivid, from the moment of their initial meeting in the winter of 1975. Clough instantly promoted O’Neill to the first team but was not of a mind to fawn. “Hey, you: Stop putting your mate in the shit. You look like a boy who would put your mate in the shit,” was the message in an early training session. Billy Bingham made O’Neill the first Catholic captain of Northern Ireland, which represented a seriously bold move in the early 1980s. “Billy said: ‘We get the results, everything will take care of itself,”” O’Neill recalls. “As it did. As a manager, O'Neill's celebrated leadership of Celtic saw them win seven trophies, including three Scottish Premier League titles; and in England he successfully led Leicester City to two League Cups and Aston Villa to an unprecedented three consecutive top six Premier League finishes. He oversaw the Republic of Ireland reaching the Euros in 2016, when they made it to the second round for the first time in their history.The only disappointment was that as his career progresses, particularly into management in the premiership, he doesn’t go into more depth when describing many of the characters in the dressing room, the make-up of the club and the characters involved. I just really felt like I wanted more from this period. Martin O’Neill has delivered a sublime and superb book that is honest, insightful, funny and detailed. Early on, I would have taken a bit of criticism but not nearly as much as Billy for making the choice. He never told me about it, he never said it bothered him. He was prepared to go for it when for an easier life he could have bypassed me.” As he takes you through this momentous journey, it’s not difficult to be impressed with everything that he has achieved and it seems that he has done it with minimal collateral damage. So often you see public figures climb to the top of the mountain stepping on people as they go but O’Neils generous and warm personality makes for a winning account of triumph over adversity when facing very difficult odds. An enjoyable autobiography, covering a very full and eventful footballing career. It was much better than the run of the mill footballing biography, usually ghost written. Not surprisingly for a man of Martin O'Neill's intelligence, this one was written by the man himself.