Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Martin driven by his dislike of criticism...
MARTIN O’neill didn’t like criticism during his time as Ireland boss, it was claimed yesterday.
RTE soccer correspondent Tony O’donoghue was on the receiving end of his wrath several times of the past five years.
O’neill claimed the reporter had launched a “verbal attack”
on him after Ireland’s 5-1 drubbing at the hands of Denmark in last November’s World Cup play-off.
And he ripped into him after the draw for the UEFA Nations League in Switzerland in January two months later.
But O’donoghue said yesterday: “I was only trying to ask questions that I expected the
viewers and listeners wanted asked. He’s sensitive to criticism and that’s just not to me or to RTE but I mean, recently, I’ve seen him take offence to other reporters as well.
“Right back through his career, when he was a player with Nottingham Forest, people would write letters to the local newspaper and he would take
note of them and at the end of a good season with Nottingham Forest he would write back.
“So he bears grudges and didn’t enjoy or take criticism, I suppose none of us, take criticism lightly.
“Again, that’s another reason he was determined, I’d say, to stay on and to, I suppose, improve or leave a better legacy.”