The only time O'Neill ever scolded Larsson
Every great team throughout history has had a few key partnerships that fans instantly recall and fawn over. For many Celtic fans, the level to which manager Martin O'Neill and Henrik Larsson were on the same wavelength is just as crucial as the striker's link-up play with Chris Sutton on the park. It wasn't always sunshine and rainbows, though, with the sole time Larsson was on the end of O'Neill's half-time rage still a bone he picks with his former gaffer when they meet up well over 20 years later.
"Do I remember? Absolutely, because it only happened once," O'Neill recalls when asked about giving the striker a telling off in the changing room. "It was against Dundee United and Henrik was playing in the first half...
unlike him, he was flicking the ball all over the place. "I think he flicked two over the stand and they ended up down at Dens Park, he was awful in the first half. "So I had a go, and I think the players actually were in one aspect, secretly delighted that Henrik is getting a little bit of stick.
"I remember it distinctly because he was brilliant in the second half, that was his response. " Johan Mjallby, who also features in the Larsson edition of Icons of Football, was sitting next to the striker in the dressing room at the break and remembers it very well, as it was a one-off. He adds: "And isn't that the best way to just shut your manager's mouth off up?
That's Henrik. " In 2018 O'Neill, Sutton, and Larsson were all working during the World Cup in various punditry capacities, and when they met up, there was one item on the agenda for the Swede. "The three of us went for something to eat, and that was the topic of conversation for about half an hour," O'Neill says.