O'Neill still expects Larsson to leave
Martin O’Neill conceded today that there was no way Henrik Larsson would do an international-style u-turn at Celtic.
The prolific striker announced his return to the Swedish national side ahead of Euro 2004.
But while that did not come as a surprise to his club boss, O’Neill simply cannot envisage another change of heart.
He said: “Returning for the European Championships was Henrik’s decision entirely but I must say I wasn’t overly surprised when I heard about it.
“It’s a great competition, the best international tournament after the World Cup as far as I’m concerned, and there are very few players who wouldn’t want to be involved.
“As to whether it’s given us any hope I’d have to say it doesn’t. But we wish Henrik the best of luck nonetheless.”
O’Neill has praised Football Writers’ Player of the Year Jackie McNamara for the way he has turned around his Parkhead career with outstanding performances anywhere in the side.
He continued: “I’m delighted for Jackie, particularly as I’m sure he’d be the first to admit that Player of the Year titles were the furthest thing from his mind at the start of the season.
“All he wanted at that stage was games or certainly more of them than he’d enjoyed over the previous couple of seasons.
“I must say again that I never considered him to be on the fringes of things and if you look back I’m sure you’ll find very few squads that he wasn’t part of.
“But yes it’s true to say he didn’t play every week – he wasn’t a regular for us – and this despite the fact that he always played admirably enough when he did get the chance.
“I knew he wanted to start more often and this season it’s happened for him. He’s been brilliant for us.
“I think he’s played in about seven different positions too and excelled in them all.”
