Mark Viduka’s time at Celtic was brief but explosive.
Joining the Hoops in a troubled period, there was plenty going on around Viduka – some of it his own doing – but he put up excellent goal numbers before leaving at the same time as Martin O’Neill’s arrival in 2000.
Despite his numbers, the Leeds and Australia legend was remembered equally for what he did and didn’t do at Celtic – his effort was questioned more than once.
The Hoops finished on just 69 points in the 1999-2000 campaign which saw John Barnes sacked mid-season. O’Neill transformed the team’s fortunes with a treble the following year.
But there is one hilarious reason why O’Neill wishes Viduka never left the Hoops – and it has something to do with the man he was signed to replace.
Chris Sutton was more than a worthy replacement for Viduka. Across five-and-a-half years in Glasgow, he scored 86 goals, playing in positions right across the pitch.
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Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
O’Neill facilitated his £6 million arrival from Chelsea, but possibly didn’t enjoy all of his time in Sutton’s company.
Speaking about Russell Martin’s sacking from Rangers on Sky Sports News, O’Neill reflected on his start to life in Glasgow, before making the comment on Sutton.
He said: “You need time to get yourself together, but the one thing you have to do is get up and running in Glasgow.
“I got lucky in aspects – my early games, I signed Chris Sutton very quickly after Mark Viduka didn’t want to stay at the football club.
“I wish Mark had stayed as it meant that I would never have had to have met Chris Sutton! But overall, he did brilliantly for me.
“We won early on, so by the time that we played Rangers in about the fifth or sixth game, we’d already won those matches. You’ve got to win.”
Martin O’Neill’s record vs other Celtic managers
O’Neill is remembered by many as the greatest Celtic manager of his generation – but how does he compare to the competition?
Despite being at the club for over five-and-a-half years, McNeill has the greatest win percentage of any Hoops manager in history, winning over three quarters of his matches.
No other Celtic manager has done this. Ange Postecoglou comes closest at 73%, but this was over just a two year period.
With 282 games managed, he now ranks below Neil Lennon and Brendan Rodgers – but unlike his two countrymen, he did it across one spell – and guided the Hoops to a European final.