O'Neill forced to go back to coaching school

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill must upgrade his coaching qualifications if he is a to avoid a future touchline ban from European competition.

O’Neill guided the Hoops to the UEFA Cup final last season and earlier today learned they will meet Barcelona in the last 16 of the same competition.

He has also guided the club into two Champions League group stages but according to new UEFA legislation he will soon be regarded as unqualified to take charge of European ties.

From next summer, all Scottish Premier League coaches will be ineligible for European competition if they do not hold UEFA’s Pro Licence qualification.

Many top-flight bosses already hold this badge – but O’Neill does not and he acknowledged he would have to become a student of the game once again to catch up.

He said: “I haven’t got that particular licence. It is pretty new. I have been involved for a few years in management and it wasn’t around when I started off.

“But if that’s the case then that’s fine. Steve Walford, our coach, is doing the badge as we speak – he certainly seems to be involved in a lot of conference calls anyway.

“He is keeping me abreast of it and if I need this licence it is something I would do.”

O’Neill played under Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest and is Celtic’s most successful manager since Jock Stein.

Those two greats relied on their own judgement rather than coaching seminars but O’Neill conceded times have changed.

He said: “My own view is that it isn’t a particularly bad innovation. You can always learn from anybody, especially if you are in a group of people who are sharing a few views.

“But it hasn’t stopped some of the other wonderful managers of yesteryear from doing their jobs.”

UEFA’s club licensing system has been endorsed by the Scottish Football Association, who will now authorise detailed examinations of clubs’ finances.

From next season, clubs will be barred from European competitions if they do not submit audited accounts by a specified time, are late with agreed transfer payments or owe staff money.

The latter would make it difficult for Motherwell or Livingston, two of the SPL’s three clubs in administration, to take up a UEFA Cup place through the Tennent’s Scottish Cup.