Martin O’Neill in cup draw gaffes as Celtic icon sparks Rod Stewart memories with ball fumbling and whispers

Martin O'Neill is held in the highest regard by Celtic fans – but life in the cup draw lane maybe isn't for the Irishman as his role in the Carabao Cup second round sparked hilarity.

The first round ties were played out this midweek and now the attention turned to who the Premier League boys would land in the next phase of the competition. Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham pulled a tricky trip to Fulham while AFC Wimbledon landed Chelsea. But all social media could focus on was O'Neill's antics when pulling out the ties with Leicester City legend Wes Morgan.

The former Celtic boss was trending on X – formerly known as Twitter – as clips of him doing the draw emerged. One showed him fumbling a balls as it came out the pot before he then put the ball to his mouth when it came out the hat thinking it was the microphone.

That prompted host Mark Chapman to interrupt his draw of Stoke vs Rotherham to say, "'Martin, I don't know why you keep talking to the ball". But O'Neill used his sharp-witted humour as he took the joke in his stride, saying "it's much better than talking to you".

Fans have been left in stiches by the antics, one saying "a magnificent moment of TV" and another couldn't help but draw comparisons to Rod Stewart's infamous Scottish Cup draw, saying, "Please, can Martin O’Neill & Rod Stewart be employed to do every future football cup draw".

There was more Stewart similarities spotted as another noted "The most perfect combination for a cup draw would be Rod Stewart and Martin O'Neill" before another fan added "Martin O’Neill talking into the ball is up there with Rod Stewart’s antics".