Martin O'Neill explains how criminology fascination may have helped his career

Ex-Celtic, Republic of Ireland and Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill wonders whether his managerial career benefitted from one of his biggest interests outside football: criminology.

The Northern Irishman enjoyed a three decade-long career in the dugout, with highlights including three Scottish titles with Celtic and two League Cup triumphs with Leicester.

You don't tend to get that far in management if you're not in tune with players – and O'Neill has considered whether his self-confessed fascination with criminology helped him get inside the minds of the teams he coached.

Answering readers' questions for the latest issue of FourFourTwo available to buy (opens in new tab), the 70-year-old – who has also taken charge of Norwich, Sunderland and, most recently, Nottingham Forest (where he won two European Cups as a player) – explained:

"As a manager, it's about man management – getting into the minds of players – so I suppose if you start to study criminology, it may have have happened somewhere along the way.

"I became interested in criminology when I was six or seven. A crime of passion took place in my village, in Kilrea [in Northern Ireland]; my father told me about it and I became fascinated with wanting to go to the exact spot, and it carried on from there.

"It's true that I have been to some high-profile trials, but I won't say which ones because the families of the people involved might think it's a ghoulish thing – and it's not. I have visited the place where JFK was shot, though; I can say I've done that."