Celtic favourite Chris Sutton has told Martin O'Neill to put himself first amid a health scare this week. O'Neill was admitted to hospital, where he had a 'small procedure' and was expected to be cleared to leave the following day.
Naturally, the health scare has a little more concern because O'Neill is 74 years of age and working in an extremely high stress job. It would be unfair to speculate regarding anything personal health-related, but there always is that concern with an older manager, and it is always possible there will come a time when they must choose between continuing with risks or calling it a day,
There is no suggestion that time has come for O'Neill, who thought long and hard about taking on the job full time for this season, and it part of the season he has only promised to do it for this season.
Sutton on O'Neill's health scare
While the decision will always be O'Neill's, it is important that those in and around the club send the right messages to ensure the veteran boss feels he can make a decision without any pressure, as much as that is possible in football at this level.
And former Celtic striker Sutton has told the veteran boss to put him and his health first.
“Martin needs to look after himself first and foremost. Football’s secondary," he told the Daily Record
“Martin’s got to do what’s right for himself and his family. But, of course, everybody wants to see Martin back in the dugout,”
Celtic will have been without O'Neill for at least a few days this week, but Sutton believes Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham will have comfortably taken care of business on the training ground.
“Shaun and Mark have got a fair bit of experience. I don’t think that would be a real issue," he added.
In reality, Maloney and Fotheringham likely lead much of the Celtic first-team training anyway, but the absence of O'Neill will still have been sorely felt. At this stage, it's expected O'Neill will still take charge of Sunday's away clash with Kilmarnock. Should that change, the club are expected to confirm the change in a statement, but O'Neill is due to sit down with the press today, on Friday, in any case, so we will find out the latest on how he is feeling and what the plan is over the coming days.
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