Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2005/04/19/celtic_voicemail_rant/

Celtic boss leaves rant on wrong phone

Own goal forces public apology

By John Leyden

Posted in Legal, 19th April 2005 09:55 GMT

Celtic chairman Brian Quinn has been forced to publicly apologise after leaving an angry voicemail message on the wrong phone during an ongoing row with manager Martin O'Neill. Quinn risked inflaming a dispute with O'Neill over player's wages after leaving his rant on a mobile belonging to 18-year-old Kayley Elkington from the Midlands, instead of a PR minion.

The fracas kicked off after O'Neill publicly questioned Quinn's assertion in a radio interview that Scots club Celtic spent £40m on wages - more than all but five English Premiership teams. O'Neill's doubts over these claims provoked the following rant:

I'm trying to head off yet another storm created by our esteemed manager. I'm not going to be branded a public liar by Martin O'Neill or anyone else so you are going to have to use your skills to defuse this thing

Young Kayley was understandably perplexed to receive this message but her family saw the significance of the misdirected message and sold a story to The Sun. The coverage prompted a shamefaced apology from the Hoops boss.

"When you reach my age, it is perhaps advisable to steer clear of newfangled devices like mobile phones," Quinn said, football365 reports. "I have had a chat with Martin and I will take him through the salary bill with the help of a bottle of wine and my abacus." O'Neill said he found the whole incident amusing. ®

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