He was widely admired as one of the most astute managers in the Premiership, guiding Leicester City to a second Worthington Cup triumph earlier this year.

He took over as Celtic boss at the start of the close-season after being courted by the Parkhead hierarchy for some time.

O'Neill, who won a League title, European Cup and League Cup as a player with Nottingham Forest, recalls it was a European Championship qualifier for Northern Ireland that launched his professional career.

He was selected for the game against Russia in 1972 whilst still a student at Queen's University in Belfast, and in the crowd that day was Forest manager Matt Gillies.

"I don't know whether Matt saw something in me that day, but a week later I signed for Forest from Distillery for �50,000."

O'Neill went on to win 64 caps for Northern Ireland in a career which also took him to Norwich and Manchester City.

He took Wycombe Wanderers into the Football League as a manager, and also had a successful spell in charge at Norwich before joining Leicester and now Celtic..