‘Surprised’ Martin O’Neill left in the dark over Kasper Schmeichel’s injury… and admits Celtic goalkeeper hadn’t told him how severe it was

Martin O’Neill admitted that only Kasper Schmeichel can say if he was entirely honest with Celtic over the shoulder issue which may have ended his career.

The Parkhead boss said he was taken by surprise when the Danish international went on television on Tuesday to deliver the bombshell news that he was facing two bouts of surgery which could sideline him for up to a year.

The 39-year-old first hurt himself while playing in a Nations League game against Portugal a year ago. On the back of a costly mistake against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup final, Schmeichel has been culpable several times for his club this season.

Booed by some of his own fans when he conceded two soft goals against Stuttgart, many supporters feel the extent of the diagnosis he received this week proves he has been playing in key matches when he should have withdrawn.

Asked bluntly if the keeper had been honest with the club, O’Neill said: ‘Only Kasper would know that. I was surprised the announcement had been made and the severity of it.

‘If you’ve done some extra damage in between times, let’s say he’s done some extra days of training here, then maybe I can understand it.

‘But, from the previous scans that we’d done, I never thought we were dealing with a career-threatening injury.

‘I must admit, I was surprised by its severity. I knew he was having injections to play some of the games, but that’s not a great remedy. 

‘I didn’t realise how bad it was, so I’m disappointed to hear the news.’

O’Neill was clearly irked that the Dane chose to make the announcement via his role as a TV analyst rather than first notifying his employers.

‘If that was the first announcement, I would have preferred to hear it myself,’ he said.

‘Back in my time, if you didn’t report it to the football club first, you could get a fine. I might have to go and check his contract … it’s a very good point.

‘The club were aware of the test he was doing. It happened rather quickly, and sometimes I can be incommunicado, not wanting to hear some news.’

Given that the former Leicester keeper’s form has been an issue for some time, O’Neill was asked if there was any suggestion that he might have needed surgery earlier.

‘Hindsight is a great thing, but I genuinely don’t know,’ he replied.

‘As far as I know, he had the problem roughly the same time last year but came through it and had an excellent season for the football club. I wasn’t aware of a major problem at that time.’

Celtic legend Chris Sutton accused Schmeichel of being ‘selfish’ for omitting to mention Celtic once in the interview in which the keeper only seemed concerned with his international prospects.

‘Chris is entitled to his own opinion, but it’s no serious issue for me,’ said the manager. ‘I don’t know whether he’s in the position to know that it was all about Denmark. I haven’t spoken to Chris.’

Schmeichel was around Lennoxtown on Friday as O’Neill outlined what the remainder of the season would look like for him as his contract winds down.

‘We have no problem rehabbing him here,’ he said. ‘I have no problem with him being around here.’

Meanwhile, O’Neill has told Alistair Johnston that it would be better if he continued his return from injury at Lennoxtown.

Out since October after hamstring surgery, the full-back has been called up by Canada but won’t play in the friendlies with Iceland and Tunisia.

While the player, who returned to the grass this week, would only go home to train with his international team-mates, O’Neill feels his time would be better spent working towards a first-team return in Scotland.

‘We at this minute would probably prefer him to stay,’ he said, while revealing that Callum McGregor should return against Dundee United on Sunday.