Having played under Martin O’Neill for five years during the Northern Irishman’s first spell in charge at Celtic back in the early 2000s, Jackie McNamara knows just how important it is for his former manager to have the right coaching staff in place.
He saw first hand how O’Neill operated – he left the training sessions at Barrowfield to his trusted lieutenants John Robertson and Steve Walford during the week and then stepped in on a Saturday afternoon to give the pre-match team talk and deliver instructions from the touchline – and how successful his methods were.
