Martin O'Neill readily admits that Jackie McNamara was the most underrated player in his successful Celtic side.

O'Neill believes that the former captain did not get the credit he fully deserved when he played for the Hoops and that he really was an unsung hero of his team.

The Northern Irishman won three league titles, three Scottish Cups and a Scottish League Cup during five years at the managerial helm in Glasgow's east end

O'Neill revealed that McNamara was a ferocious competitor and that some two decades later he is only just beginning to realise how good a player McNamara actually was.

When asked if there were any players during his five-year managerial stint at Parkhead that did not receive enough credit, O'Neill said: "Jackie McNamara for a start. The reason he doesn't is essentially down to me. It took me a while to realise how good a player Jackie Mac was. He could play in a number of positions. He may have been a baby-faced fella but he was fiercely competitive.

"He would have put the shoe into you - no question. That's an old Gaelic (GAA football) term from back home when the boys back home were having a Sunday kickabout we'd say 'let's stick the shoe into them' rather than stick the boot into them. It is an old Irish phrase from my Gaelic days that comes out now and again.

"Jackie Mac did a great job for Celtic and he was terrific. Looking back on things now I probably did not really give Jackie the credit he was due as a player but I did give him the credit he deserved in the dressing room. I am now making that up to him some 20 years later."

Celtic Way:

O'Neill also conceded that 'Gift from God' Lubomir Moravcik was the most gifted player he played with in terms of technical ability with either foot - even though he initially harboured doubts about the mercurial midfielder being able to hack it in Scottish football.

"Lubomir Moravcik was the best two-footed player I ever worked with," said O'Neill. "I will tell you what is an absolute certainty if he had been 27 or 33 when he signed for Celtic we would have won the UEFA Cup.

"He would have made a blinding difference. I know Henrik Larsson was a magnificent player for us and he was superb in the UEFA cup final but Moravcik could do stuff in and around the penalty area turning people inside out and you only have to go back to see what the great Zinedine Zidane said about him. Zidane said he was one of the game's terrific players. Moravcik was a brilliant player.

"To my eternal discredit, we had been hopeless against Leipzig in a pre-season friendly after I had been in charge for a couple of weeks. Leipzig was not in the Bundesliga then but they were a struggling Third Division team and I had to say something to the players and it was not good news.

"I said to Lubo: 'You need to run around a bit more or else you will not play for this team.' Lubo looked at me and said 'Running? That's not in my contract, just give me the ball. I'll deal with the ball.' My goodness, Lubo could deal with the ball.

"Neil Lennon was also brilliant for me and Paul Lambert sometimes gets overlooked as he was a brilliant character in the dressing room. He wanted to play all the time and if you dropped him for a match then he'd moan like hell. He actually reminded me of me when I was a player as nobody likes to get left out of the team.

"Then there was Didier Agathe who we signed for £50,000 as well as Joos Valgaeren and Alan Thompson. All of these players coming into the team and the club, when they did, was good for Celtic.

"Henrik profited most from the likes of Agathe and Thompson as their runs and deliveries were on point for him most of the time and he has admitted that himself many times."

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