“At the moment, if Martin fell in muck, he’d still smell of Old Spice. He’s got that at the moment so I wasn’t surprised at the draw.”
That was the quip from Keith Andrews that riled Martin O'Neill and elicited a rather forceful response from the Ireland manager who felt his achievements with the Boys in Green in regards to leading them to consecutive playoffs for major tournaments and then being drawn against the least daunting sides.
O'Neill's blunt response was thus: "I like Keith but do you know what, that’s, do you know, I have to turn around and say that’s complete b*****ks. It is honestly, it is complete and utter b*****ks. I have to say that."
John Giles joined us as always on a Thursday night and he felt O'Neill's response to former Ireland midfielder Andrews could have been more mature than it ultimately turned out to be.
"I don't think anybody likes it (to be told that they're lucky) but I'd find it a little bit immature of him to respond to it in the way that he did," said John of O'Neill.
"You let your results speak for themselves and there's no doubt in the draw [to get Denmark in the playoffs], which has nothing to do with him, was an element of luck in it.
Should be worried about Denmark's Christian Eriksen in the playoff tie? Not overly according to John Giles #OTB #COYBIG pic.twitter.com/iMOAlxo2c9
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) November 2, 2017
"I mean, if we'd have picked anybody before the draw that was taken with Croatia and Italy involved in it and get Denmark, that happens. That's nothing to do with him. I think the resentment is about 'I don't do anything' and 'it happened by luck' and this, that and the other. There would be an element of that. But there's so many aspects to management that it's very hard to talk about it in a sensible way."
John also recalled the trash talking technique from his era...
