Celtic flop in astonishing O'Neill attack after title win pain

Celtic splashed out a huge sum of £5.75 million back in 1999 under John Barnes, but the move turned into a nightmare for Berkovic when Barnes was sacked following an infamous Scottish Cup loss to Caley Thistle and he was frozen out by O'Neill, in his first spell as Celtic boss, before eventually signing for Manchester City, after a loan spell at Blackburn Rovers.

Berkovic, speaking on his own 'The magician and his sons' podcast revealed he watched veteran boss O'Neill guide Celtic to an unexpected title when they beat Hearts 3-1 on the final day showdown.

And he bizarrely likened the 74-year-old Hoops icon to Haman - a mythical hate figure in the Hebrew bible who ordered the extermination of all Jewish people in the Persian empire because a royal family member wouldn't bow down to him.

Berkovic said: "I watched the Celtic match against Hearts and I was really gutted.

"The whole stand is full of Palestinian flags. And worst of all....who’s on the touchline? Martin O’Neill, the one who sacked me.

"To me, Martin O’Neill is the evil Haman of football.

"So I was really p***ed off by what happened. I prayed the whole game they would lose. Honestly, I was heartbroken they won it.

"Let me tell you a story about my time at Celtic.

"I was their biggest transfer of all time there. They sent a helicopter to sign me.

"The first game, we had to go on a three hour drive to Aberdeen and we put on a show and won 5-0. I set up three of the goals.

"On the way back, I was on the phone to my agent Pini Zahavi and I told him, 'if you don't find me a new club tomorrow, I am not working with you again.'

"I wanted out of there after one game."