They may only have spent two seasons working alongside one another, yet Gerry Taggart still regards Martin O’Neill as “one person I would never, ever hear a bad word said against.”
Signing the Northern Irish defender Taggart for Leicester City in the summer of 1998, together they would reach two successive League Cup finals; winning one in the process.
Speaking today on The Keith Andrews Show, Gerry Taggart reflected on the important role Martin O’Neill played in his career.
“He did a lot for me in my career,” Taggart recalled.
“Martin just knew how to push all the right buttons, knew how to get that extra 2% or whatever it was to get the team over the line.
“He treated all the players as individuals, and he could work out who needed what. He’s make it really simplistic for everybody; this is your job and this is what you do.”
A style of management that “doesn’t exist in football” anymore according to Taggart, there was one sure-fire way to get on O’Neill’s good side – or his bad.
“If you got over the line for him, he made you feel like a million dollars,” Taggart admits.
“If you didn’t get over the line for him, you were a bit of dirt on the bottom of his shoe – that’s the way he worked; everything was black and white with Martin.”
Directing all the team’s focus toward “3pm on a Saturday afternoon,” it was a straight-forward approach that suited Taggart, and, according to testimonies from a number of his former players, suited many more besides.
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