MARTIN THE MAN

Sutton, Petrov and McNamara lift the lid on life under old boss O'Neill reliving triumphs, tears and bust-ups... but the memories that shine through most are of gaffer's humanity

- DAVID MCCARTHY

MARTIN O'NEILL'S trophystrewn reign as Celtic manager in the first five years of the millennium was full of banter and bust-ups.

But the bond forged by the Northern Irishman and his team lasted a lot longer than that and remains as strong now as it was when O'Neill led them to the UEFA Cup Final in Seville.

The 20th anniversary of that agonising defeat to Porto will be marked next May and the passing of time hasn't diminished the hurt felt by the players who came so close.

And yet when Stan Petrov looks back on his time with O'Neill, it isn't the football that prompts the strongest emotions.

It's the humanity of the man who helped him through the darkest hours of his life seven years after they parted company in Glasgow.

In 2012 the Bulgarian was captaining Aston Villa, O'Neill managing Sunderland, when Petrov got the earth-shattering news he had acute leukaemia.

After contacting his wife, his next call was to O'Neill, who had left Celtic seven years earlier to devote more time to his wife Geraldine who had been diagnosed with lymphoma.

"Martin came with a passion and a desire to win," Petrov, now 43 and restored to full health, recalls. "He built a team to fight and to win every single competition. But there is a side of Martin not many people know. We know he left because of his wife Geraldine.

"When I got ill and I was diagnosed, he was the first person I somebody contacted because I needed I could trust, who could give me guidance and a second opinion. I remember phoning. He was at Sunderland and was outside taking a session, so I had to phone his secretary to try to get him.

"He was on the phone within about 30 seconds and spent about an hour with me. He didn't even go back to training. He just made sure I was OK and that I would get the right treatment. He put me with the right person.