Former Celtic manager Martin O’Neill has joined the plaudits for Lisbon Lion Tommy Gemmell who died at the age of 73 after a long illness.

O’Neill first crossed paths with Gemmell at Nottingham Forest in the latter stages of the full-back’s career before the two men reconvened when the Irishman arrived in Glasgow in June 2000 to manage Celtic.

But it is one of the early meetings with Gemmell that O’Neill recalls with a smile.

Glasgow Times: Martin O'Neill and Tommy Gemmell pictured with the European Cup just as O'Neill had taken over as Celtic manager

“I was just a young player at Forest when Tommy came down to play after leaving Celtic and I was a little bit in awe of him and what he had achieved at Celtic. I plucked up the courage one day to say to him ‘that was some goal in the European Cup final,’ to which he replied without a second of a pause, ‘which one, son?’

“And I thought to myself, ‘very good’, well, brilliant actually, just brilliant. It really was. An, you know, in many ways he was right. I do think that the achievement of getting to the 1970 European Cup final gets lost a bit, even now at the club.

“Anyone who scores in two European Cup finals has got a little bit about them, that would be for sure.

“It is so sad. It is a real shame and he is a man that I had so much respect for.

“I got on just fine with Tommy and when I was up in Glasgow I got so much support off of him, as did from all of the Lions.”

O’Neill opened the door to the Lions during his time at Celtic and made a point of personally getting to know the men who made history for the club.

In retrospect, he suspects that there may have been an element of intimidation from previous incumbents of his post with regards to the achievements of the Lions, whereas O’Neill lauded their example and used them to motivate the players that he had at the club.

The Irishman himself won the European Cup in 1980 with Brian Clough's Forest, and he was always keen to ensure the Lions were assured of their place at Celtic.

“In the early days at Celtic, one of the first things I wanted to do was to take the Lions out for dinner,” said the Republic of Ireland manager. “Apart from the fact that they were outstanding footballers and a team who contributed so much to the rich history of the club, they were great company too. It was my privilege to be able to meet them and I enjoyed so much support from them in my time as manager of the club.

“I mean, Jimmy Johnstone, was arguably the greatest player that Celtic have ever had. To get to know these men, to be in that position, was a real delight for me.

“I always felt that perhaps what had happened was that some managers had been intimidated by the presence of the Lions. I was the opposite. I was in awe of them growing up but when I came to Celtic as a manager I was desperate to get to know them.

“I always felt that they were the guys you had to hold aloft to your current group of players as the absolute heights that you could reach. They gave so much to the football club and I wanted their contribution as an inspiration to the players who were at the club at that time, that was very important to me.”

And O’Neill believes that Gemmell’s generation helped to mould the attacking full-backs that are in vogue.

“I sometimes listen and think that people sound a little bit foolish when they speak of the modern day full-back,” said O’Neill. “Under Jock Stein, Celtic had players who attacked on all fronts. It was guys like Tommy who revolutionised that position and set the bar for the rest to follow.

“Tommy had come to Forest after his time at Celtic had come to an end and I, at that time, would have been a bit wide-eyed at this man who had won the European Cup.

“He had a new lease of life with us down at Forest. He came with a reputation as one of the greatest attacking left-backs in the world and although the peak years of his career were behind him, he brought so much to our team.

“It was a great privilege of mine to have known him.”