Martin O'Neill jokingly savaged Chris Sutton after the former Celtic striker asked why he was nicer to Henrik Larsson in his spell at Celtic Park - with the Irish gaffer simply putting it down to Larsson 'scoring more goals'.
O'Neill moved to Parkhead in 2000 after a superb stint at Leicester City which saw him win two League Cup titles and four consecutive top-flight finishes after promotion in his first campaign as Foxes boss, and inherited Larsson as his main striker with the Swede already a fan favourite in the east end of Glasgow. Having scored 173 goals across the four years that O'Neill was manager, you cannot blame the Northern Irishman for having a preferred choice.
However, his appointment in 2000 saw the arrival of Sutton from Chelsea for a fee of £6million, and he formed a deadly partnership with Larsson. Alongside John Hartson, the three worked well as an attacking trio which brought success across the board for the Hoops. Yet despite Sutton's 84 goals in green and white, he claimed on Twitter that O'Neill was nasty to him, accusing him of showing special treatment towards Larsson - which the former Bhoys boss simply laughed off.
"Why were you nasty to me on a number of occasions @moneill31 but nice to Henrik [Larsson] all the time?" Sutton tweeted. But O'Neill replied cheekily, responding: "Because he scored more goals than you!
All was good in the end though, with the former Hoops boss downplaying any bad relations with the two by praising Sutton for his influence at Parkhead. "However, had you not come to @CelticFC when you did we may not have beaten Rangers that glorious afternoon. You were a landscape-changer when you came to the club & had you not done so, we wouldn't have achieved the success we did."
Celtic won three Scottish Premier League titles, three Scottish Cup trophies and a League Cup under O'Neill, and almost tasted European success in Seville in 2003.
