O'Neill proves he's frank but will he be peerless?; MacDonald may hand media dealings to Celtic's new manager in a bid to rebuild the club's image

IT WAS former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash who once said thatsportsmen who were good at golf had too much time on their hands.

The comments from the Australian certainly cannot be levelled atCeltic coach Martin O'Neill. Early last week, he had to break offfrom the club's training camp in Denmark to answer a three-line whipfrom club investor Dermott Desmond to play at millionairebusinessman J P McManus' charity golf day in the Republic ofIreland.

"It was a major embarrassment," joked O'Neill as the club woundup their pre-season tour. "I knew I was bad, but I was even worsethan I thought.

"I was playing with Stewart Appleby, who shot nine-under-par andbroke the course record. After four holes, I decided to pack it inand just caddy for him.

"I was appaling, but I was delighted to learn from another sourcethat Sir Alex Ferguson played every bit as poorly. That was thefirst game I had played for two years, and boy did it show. You canget a liking for it, but I haven't got that way."

It is ironic that the new man at Celtic does not love golf in theway that the last man to be hailed as a Celtic saviour had done. Asmany will know, Celtic's former director of football operations,Kenny Dalglish, had a strong liking for the fairways and greens tosay the least, and he did receive criticism for the amount of timehe spent there.

Whether you feel it was justified or not, it is clear O'Neill,with the job he has in front of him, will not be putting on hisspikes and heading down the fairway for a long time yet, which canonly be good news for Celtic supporters.

Instead, he has the huge task of trying to revitalise the team,which was in the doldrums after the John Barnes era, and the fact hehas admitted the side needs strengthening all over the park,particularly in defence, shows the amount of work he realises needsto be done.

First impressions of the man, during their pre-season tour,suggests that he has been keen to give the players and the backroomstaff the benefit of the doubt and allow them every chance toimpress him.

During the tour, it has been a quieter, more reserved MartinO'Neill we have seen, compared to the whirling dervish who used topatrol the touchline at Leicester City.

He has clearly been feeling his way into the job, but thatreserved character will change when he gets the players in he wantsand has them playing the type of tactical game he prefers.

Although nothing can be read into the results in pre-seasongames, O'Neill has a huge task on his hands catching Rangers, whohave strengthened more than Celtic during the summer break, but ithas to be hoped that there will be no knee-jerk reaction if thefirst few results do not go his way.

Off the field, even O'Neill, with his television experience, hasbeen coming to terms with the massive media interest being Celticmanager brings.

At Leicester City, there would be a handful of media on hand,but, on this trip alone, there were representatives from sevennational daily papers and five Sunday newspapers, as well as theParkhead club's own newspaper and television station, withcommentary of the friendly matches being broadcast on the internet.

I am one of the few journalists who have been on the last threeCeltic pre-season continental tours and they have ranged from thesublime to the ridiculous, with this one being handled the best ofall.

The first was to Holland, where we had the bizarre sight offormer managing director Jock Brown sitting in on every pressconference along with the then acting manager Eric Black.

I remember both men pulling out two chairs and sitting in themiddle of a deserted function room ever day in front of the presslike they were in front of a firing squad, which, maybe after whathappened during that era, is a decent enough analogy.

Last year, we were in Kongsvinger, in Norway, where the hype washuge and a brave new world was being proclaimed as Kenny Dalglishand John Barnes took over.

Both men were in their training gear throughout the 12 days wewere there and clearly enjoying their time, and could never havepredicted how things would go so badly wrong for them.

There were also plenty of common denominators from the trips toHolland and Norway. Both of the hotels they were in lackedfacilities, there was nothing much for the players to do, and,particularly last year, the training facilities were basic to saythe least.

After two years of such surreal goings-on at Celtic, O'Neillseems to have put a line under the nonsense which has surrounded theclub. However, it was appaling that last week he was forced to takehis team from Ireland to Denmark to Germany to play mediocreopposition because of contractual obligations.

On this tour, one of O'Neill's main attributes has been to simplytell the truth surrounding his intentions regarding players and notto duck issues.

Putting the record straight on important issues for thesupporters is not something Celtic excels at, and O'Neill has themedia skills to put that right.

However, there is a danger he may, subconsciously, end up doingmore than he really should or want to in that department. Celticsupporters want him to concentrate simply on bringing success on thefield, but because Celtic chief executive Allan McDonald is not astuned in to media demands as Rangers chairman David Murray, there isa danger O'Neill will have to shoulder more of the off the fieldresponsibility regarding club matters than he should, and theIrishman should not be pushed into that corner.

He is intelligent and astute enough to deal with any curved ballthrown at him, and on this trip has managed to take the sting out ofa few questions which were sent his way, but he cannot be pulled toomany ways and should be allowed to concentrate on simply managingthe football club.

Overall, the public image of Celtic, which has been abysmal overthe last few years, will improve because of O'Neill's manner, andyou get the feeling the man, who would have taken a degree in law atQueen's University in Belfast if he had not been a footballer, canimprove things at Parkhead.

However, whether he can turn things around quickly enough tochallenge Rangers' domination of Scottish football in the comingseason remains to be seen.

Whatever happens, O'Neill should be given time to make his planswork, and next season's pre-season tour should still see him incharge, come what may, for the good of the club, who at long lasthave a manager with the experience to bring the good times back toParkhead.