O’Neill was finally appointed Nottingham Forest manager on Tuesday.
Martin O’Neill has claimed he has previously turned down offers to manage Nottingham Forest.
O’Neill was appointed Aitor Karanka’s Forest successor on an 18-month contract earlier this week – returning to the club he served for a decade as a player after 37 years. But his exile might not have lasted quite so long.
Asked about past approaches from Nottingham Forest, O’Neill told the BBC: “I have had a chance, yes – a number of chances.
“I wasn’t sure about whether it was the right time. But now I have this opportunity to do it and I might not get the opportunity again, so I might as well make the most of it.”
The Nottingham Post reported last month that one such offer arrived during the current regime, which began with Evangelos Marinakis’s purchase of the club in May 2017.
The newspaper claims, however, that on said occasion O’Neill opted to remain as manager of the Republic of Ireland – a position he left in November last year.
O’Neill, who played as a winger, won one First Division title, two European Cups and as many League Cups as a player at the City Ground.
Is O’Neill the man to end Nottingham Forest’s Premier League exile?
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