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Was Martin O'Neill trying to protect Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel by not revealing the extent of his injury?
The 39-year-old last featured for O'Neill's side on 22 February but has since revealed he is facing 10-12 months out as he requires surgery on an ongoing shoulder injury.
And the former Leicester City goalkeeper, whose Celtic contract expires at the end of this season, has admitted the issue could be career ending.
But there has been no official communication from the club and O'Neill suggested in his pre-Motherwell press conference last week that the goalkeeper had been training and could have even made the matchday squad.
"It sounds as if Martin O'Neill has been trying to protect the player a bit in terms of not revealing something he didn't want revealed," said Stephen McGowan, football writer with The Heraldn, on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.
"It's been a sensitive situation.
"There's two sides to this because Schmeichel has not been in good form for quite some time. We've seen some pretty high-profile mistakes. You go back to the Scottish Cup final last May where he kind of threw one in against Aberdeen.
"It's been a series of mistakes this season as well.
"He didn't have a great performance against Rangers when Celtic lost 3-1 at home. There were a couple of goals against Stuttgart when they lost 4-1 where he looked slow to get down and it looked as if there was an evident physical issue there that was impeding his ability to move freely. And now we know what that is.
"So I think there are some supporters saying, well, how long has this been evident for and why was it not detected sooner? Because if it had been then it might have made a difference to Celtic season, they might not have been in quite the difficult situation they are in now.
"The flip side to is it's a real shame for the player himself. He's had a brilliant career, a decorated career, he's 39 and all of a sudden he's staring down the barrel of the end. It looks as if his career might well be over. So it's a real personal shame for him.
"It's a shame for Celtic as well that they didn't get to the heart of it sooner because if they had, the season might be in slightly more healthy place than it is now."
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The 39-year-old last featured for O'Neill's side on 22 February but has since revealed he is facing 10-12 months out as he requires surgery on an ongoing shoulder injury.
And the former Leicester City goalkeeper, whose Celtic contract expires at the end of this season, has admitted the issue could be career ending.
But there has been no official communication from the club and O'Neill suggested in his pre-Motherwell press conference last week that the goalkeeper had been training and could have even made the matchday squad.
"It sounds as if Martin O'Neill has been trying to protect the player a bit in terms of not revealing something he didn't want revealed," said Stephen McGowan, football writer with The Heraldn, on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.
"It's been a sensitive situation.
"There's two sides to this because Schmeichel has not been in good form for quite some time. We've seen some pretty high-profile mistakes. You go back to the Scottish Cup final last May where he kind of threw one in against Aberdeen.
"It's been a series of mistakes this season as well.
"He didn't have a great performance against Rangers when Celtic lost 3-1 at home. There were a couple of goals against Stuttgart when they lost 4-1 where he looked slow to get down and it looked as if there was an evident physical issue there that was impeding his ability to move freely. And now we know what that is.
"So I think there are some supporters saying, well, how long has this been evident for and why was it not detected sooner? Because if it had been then it might have made a difference to Celtic season, they might not have been in quite the difficult situation they are in now.
"The flip side to is it's a real shame for the player himself. He's had a brilliant career, a decorated career, he's 39 and all of a sudden he's staring down the barrel of the end. It looks as if his career might well be over. So it's a real personal shame for him.
"It's a shame for Celtic as well that they didn't get to the heart of it sooner because if they had, the season might be in slightly more healthy place than it is now."
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