Martin O’Neill isn’t shy to say what he thinks, whether that was as a manager or now in the punditry world.
Perhaps the Celtic hero isn’t as vocal or confidently arrogant as Jose Mourinho, but you can probably cut them from the same cloth.
One man whom O’Neill wanted to mention alongside the Portuguese great is Ange Postecoglou, after he was sacked by Nottingham Forest over the weekend.
This is the second time Postecoglou has been sacked this year, after Tottenham Hotspur booted him out in the summer, despite winning the Europa League.
Postecoglou has never gone down without a fight, and O’Neill was keen to defend the Treble-winner at Celtic.
Celtic hero Martin O’Neill’s brilliant Ange Postecoglou and Jose Mourinho comparison
In the press conference in the lead-up to Postecoglou’s final game as Forest manager – a 3-0 home defeat to Chelsea – he defended himself, his record, and winning a trophy at Spurs.
Speaking on talkSPORT, O’Neill wanted to compare it to Mourinho, and how he once, whilst walking out of a press conference as the Manchester United manager in 2018, shouted ‘respect, respect, respect’, whilst informing the journalists of how many Premier League titles he had won.
“The first point is that he does this monologue,” said O’Neill about Postecoglou’s presser before his sacking.
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“And do you know sometimes as a manager you feel that you have to almost defend yourself, and that went on a long time, I believe, and probably too long. On reflection, I’m quite sure he thought, “Oh, listen, I shouldn’t have said this.’
“But I remember Jose Mourinho, who’s a serial winner, great, great, great manager. If the world ended tomorrow, he would go down as one of the greats. And him having to defend himself one time. I remember him shouting ‘respect, respect, respect’ as he left the press conference. Sometimes, it does get to you as a manager.
“If you had said to Tottenham Hotspur last year, you will actually be in the Champions League the following year, you would have taken that all day long.
“Now, they didn’t know what circuit of route they were going to get into the Champions League. Losing a load of league matches, but still ending up winning the Europa League.
“I still have to try and come to terms with this here, the results were very, very poor from Tottenham, they lost a lot of matches, but they still won a trophy that got them into the Champions League. I thought that’s what you were in the game to do, which is actually win some trophies. Balancing it out.
“The pressure came with him not being wanted (by Nottingham Forest) to begin with, so you are on the back foot immediately.”
That famous Mourinho ‘respect’ press conference
Mourinho has had many legendary moments, and he has always backed it up with trophy after trophy after trophy.
When under pressure as the manager of Manchester United in 2018, after losing a game 3-0 to Tottenham, he proceeded to tell the room what other significance the number three had.
“What was the result?” asked Mourinho “Do you know what this means? (holds up three fingers)? 3-0. But also means, three Premierships and I won more Premierships alone than the other 19 managers together.
“Three for me, and two for them. Respect, respect, respect, respect man, respect.”