O’NEILL: Fans still rave about 2003 run... but all I have is disappointment

TWENTY years on, Celtic fans never tire of reminding Martin O’Neill of their memories of Seville. Typically, the Northern Irishman will happily smile and nod along as he hears another reminiscence of Celtic’s 2003 UEFA Cup run.

He just can’t bring himself to tell them that, ultimately, he regards the great adventure as a failure.

As much as he looks back on his five-year stint in the Parkhead hotseat with deep fondness,

O’Neill admits he pays little heed to the medal he collected following his side’s 3-2 defeat to Porto.

‘It’s of no consequence, you know,’ he says gently, when asked where he keeps the trinket. Such is the way with a man toughened at the hard winner’s school of Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest.

Yet O’Neill does permit himself to marvel at the exploits that carried his side all the way from Champions League qualifying defeat to Basel, to the showpiece match in

Europe’s second-tier competition.

He revels even more in the memories of a support who regard their only trophyless season under the Northern Irishman as such a joyful time in their lives.

‘It is the strangest thing,’ he continues, ‘and it only goes to prove Celtic fans are so strange. Even now boys tell me Seville was a phenomenal experience for them.

‘I think: “No it wasn’t — we lost the game”. If I could change anything about my time with Celtic, that one result in Seville would be brilliant.

‘I ask them what they mean, do they mean the game and they say no, it was the journey. They mean Blackburn, they mean Celta Vigo, they mean Anfield and even the actual journey of getting to Seville itself.

‘People tell me stories of getting there by planes, trains, automobiles, every damn thing. But it’s such a major disappointment to me…’

Perhaps more than anything, he harbours regret for his star player. Henrik Larsson had been totemic on the run to Andalucia and turned in what deserved to be a career-defining performance in the heat of the Stadio Olimpico.

Faced with a team that would be crowned Champions league winners under Jose Mourinho just a year later, Larsson twice rose high to head goals for Celtic.

‘Of all the great games he played, he saved it for the UEFA Cup final,’ says O’Neill (right).

‘He was just majestic in the final. He scored the two goals and if any player deserved to win a UEFA Cup medal that night, Henrik Larsson did.’

Larsson had been talismanic during the run too, netting against

Suduva, Blackburn, Celta Vigo and Liverpool. And when the nerves started to jangle in the two-legged semi-final against Boavista, it was the Swede who popped up in each leg with the goals that scraped a 2-1 aggregate win.

‘The first game was a 1-1 draw, so we had to score away and it was a real struggle for us in Portugal,’ recalls O’Neill. ‘It would have been massively disappointing to have beaten Liverpool and Blackburn in the manner we did and then go out meekly against Boavista.

‘We couldn’t conjure a goal and Henrik comes up with one, pushes it from right to left, almost a semi-scuff but he’s put it in the net. It was a big, big moment.’

Larsson had been ably backed by the firepower of Chris Sutton and John Hartson throughout the run, the latter delivering one of the high points with a stunning goal at Anfield in the quarters. Yet, by the time the final rolled round, the Welshman had been forced out by a back injury.

Porto won by the odd goal in five but might that extra goal threat have made a difference?

‘Do you know what, I think so, yes,’ says O’Neill. ‘Sutton was capable of playing in a number of other positions for us and that extra goal power could helped.

You never know.

‘He did have a bit of a struggle with heat, mind. It was a shame because he had been brilliant at Anfield and scored the goal.

‘John describes that differently now. It’s no longer the goal I remember, he beats seven players now, but it was a great moment.’

Sutton has since remodelled himself as a media pundit, regularly courting controversy with his acerbic commentary of Celtic and the wonder of the Scottish football scene.

Back in 2000, he was one of British football’s most expensive footballers, but a £10million move to Chelsea a year earlier had failed to work out and he was available for transfer.

‘Honestly, he was a landscapechanger,’ says O’Neill. ‘Larsson loved playing alongside him. Chris did not seem to bother about who got the goals. As a centreforward, he wanted to score but it was not life or death with him as long as someone was putting the ball in the net for us.’

O’Neill recently published a memoir entitled On Days

Like These and admits his time strolling down memory lane still feels surreal.

‘Seville feels like 15 minutes ago, genuinely,’ he adds. ‘Certainly, you would say two or three years ago. I don’t know where time has gone to.’