O’Neill set to continue as Celtic boss – but other issues still to be resolved
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c62d557dez9o
Chris McLaughlin
BBC Scotland sports news correspondent
Published
5 June 2026
Martin O’Neill is set to continue as Celtic manager after two interim spells last season culminated in a Premiership and Scottish Cup double.
The 74-year-old has now agreed to stay at Parkhead on a one-year contract – with the option for a further year – after holding talks with the club’s major shareholder, Dermot Desmond, earlier this week.
Celtic have yet to officially confirm the appointment.
Twenty years on from ending a five-year stint as Celtic manager, O’Neill returned in late October on a temporary basis after Brendan Rodgers’ departure, overseeing eight games.
He made way for Wilfried Nancy, but the Frenchman left after six defeats and two wins from eight matches – leading to O’Neill returning in early January until the end of the season.
The league title race went to the final day of the campaign, with Celtic beating long-time leaders Hearts 3-1 to retain the crown.
Then, at Hampden two weeks ago, O’Neill won his ninth trophy as Celtic manager with a 3-1 win over Dunfermline Athletic in the Scottish Cup final.
Across his two spells last term, O’Neill oversaw 35 games in all competitions, winning 27 and drawing four.
His average of 2.56 points per game in the league matched his corresponding figure from 2000-05.
Robbie Keane, a one-time Celtic player, had been linked with the Celtic manager’s job before and after his recent exit from Ferencvaros.
However, several Celtic supporters clubs put their name to a statement earlier this week opposing his potential appointment because of the Irishman’s previous role as Maccabi Tel Aviv head coach.
Danish coach Jens Berthel Askou was also mentioned in connection with the position before leaving Motherwell for Toulouse.
Analysis: O’Neill just one part of bigger jigsaw
By
Tom English
BBC Scotland’s chief sports writer
At the end of the season, O’Neill cast doubt on his ability to go back to the coalface one more time, but his words were never convincing. For all his talk of how draining the job is – and that much is beyond dispute – he clearly basks in it.
Arguably, the most difficult part of the role was not the on-field stuff at all – he knows more than anybody how to organise and motivate Celtic players and how to engage with Celtic supporters.
Dealing with the disconnect between sections of the fans and a deeply unpopular board was, obviously, a strain on him until the run-in, when the whole place finally managed to start pointing in the same direction.
The issues that caused the rancour in the first place have not gone away. This is an uneasy truce and it could be broken at any time.
O’Neill will know that and appointing him can only be one part of a bigger jigsaw.
Celtic’s wizard can’t keep casting spells – Martin O’Neill now needs those around him to step up
A big piece of Celtic jigsaw is in place – but picture is far from complete
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/latest-celtic-news/celtics-wizard-cant-keep-casting-spells-martin-oneill-now-needs-those-around-him-to-step-up-8661361
The everlasting Martin O’Neill show goes on at Celtic. The 74-year-old is set return to the east end of Glasgow for a third time after news broke on Friday evening that the Northern Irishman has agreed a contract for next season.
O’Neill met principal shareholder Dermot Desmond earlier this week and is understood to have told the businessman and Celtic kingmaker that he wanted his reign to continue. After answering Desmond’s SOS calls not once but twice last season, concurring was the least the Irish financier could do.
Under O’Neill, Celtic ended the 2025/26 campaign in spectacular fashion. They won their final nine matches to pip Hearts at the post in the Premiership title race and then defeated Dunfermline Athletic to win the Scottish Cup. In a season where so much went wrong, O’Neill got it right.
Brendan Rodgers’ resignation last October and then the cataclysmic 33-day tenure of Wilfried Nancy over the festive period threatened Celtic with a rare barren season. It is to O’Neill’s enormous credit that he galvanised a sinking ship and coaxed his players over the line to a double.
O’Neill wasn’t shy in telling the media that the likelihood of him hanging around beyond May was slim – but his stance did soften towards the end of the campaign. He is a self-confessed football addict and the bug has clearly bitten him once more.
Not in his wildest dreams did this time last year O’Neill think he would be a football manager again. His last posting was with Nottingham Forest in 2019, when Covid-19 wasn’t even an apple in society’s eye. He was yesterday’s man. A very successful man, but yesterday’s man nonetheless.
Which is why his powers in the dugout require so much admiration. O’Neill has always been more of a motivator than a coach, but he has done so well to fit into the modern game – a game he often derides.
He has also been ably supported by his assistant coach Shaun Maloney, and Mark Fotheringham, who undoubtedly do a lot of the tactical work. As a team, they operate well and the aforementioned duo should join O’Neill in forming the senior management group.
Popular with the players, O’Neill has been able to make them feel powerful again. Anyone who claims Celtic were fortunate with VAR calls at the end of the season cannot be churlish enough to dismiss the run O’Neill’s team put together to reel in long-time league leaders Hearts.
O’Neill brings unity to Celtic
O’Neill also did something that many have recently failed to do at Celtic Park: bring unity. A club addled by disharmony for most of the past 12 months, the Northern Irishman had by the end of the season the stadium like it was during is his first tenure between 2000 and 2005.
The trick will be now maintaining such levels of togetherness.
Desmond’s detractors – and there are many – will label the decision to stick with O’Neill as lazy and short-sighted. Celtic have had months to come up with a younger model, yet decided to settle on the Northern Irishman. That much is true but in a world of constant speculation, not many names came to the fore. Celtic spoke to Robbie Keane, admired Craig Bellamy and Roberto Martinez and were linked with Motherwell’s Jens Berthel Askou before he went to Toulouse, but there weren’t a slew of candidates bubbling above the surface.
From a football perspective, Keane ticked a lot of boxes. A multiple league winner and former player, it was his work in Israel with Maccabi Tel Aviv that went against him. A core of the Celtic support are pro-Palestinian and would never take to a man who worked for an Israeli club during the Gaza conflict. They made their feelings abundantly clear on Keane with statements and protests.
In a World Cup year where everything is delayed, Celtic had little time to dawdle. Potentially more managers would emerge after the tournament, but that’s too late for this club. There is a power of work to be done.
A squad that has been left malnourished by previous transfer windows, Celtic have little margin for error this time around. Rangers will spend, and have already recruited Lawrence Shankland. Hearts, despite losing that man, have reinforced – with more in the pipeline. Celtic need a goalkeeper, a centre-half, a central midfielder and at least two No 9s. And that’s being conservative.
While there is a domestic challenge, Celtic simply have to be ready for their Champions League play-off in late August – a stage where they fell to Kairat Almaty last year. Next season is the final one where the Scottish champions enter at this juncture; next time it will be the second qualifying round. In short, it’ll be an awful lot harder to get your hands on £30 million of Champions League riches. O’Neill is a safer bet than most when it comes to Europe.
Getting a proper product on the park should help assuage some Celtic dissenters. So much of the vitriol coming from the stands towards Desmond and CEO Michael Nicholson was borne out of inadequate recruitment. Without head of football operations Paul Tisdale, who was jettisoned along with Nancy, it remains opaque as to who is calling the shots when it comes to procuring players.
It’s not just incomings O’Neill has to deal with. Daizen Maeda and Arne Engels were in demand last season. Benjamin Nygren is set to court suitors after the World Cup. This isn’t an easy summer window for the manager – a generation on from his last.
O’Neill’s appointment should be confirmed imminently. A big piece of the jigsaw has been found, but the full picture is far from complete. O’Neill knows this, and one assumes he has been given assurances that he will be properly backed from above in the coming weeks. There are only so many spells a wizard can cast.
Martin O’Neill set to stay on as Celtic manager as details emerge of fresh deal
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/latest-celtic-news/martin-oneill-set-to-stay-on-as-celtic-manager-as-details-emerge-of-fresh-deal-8661237
Mark Atkinson
By Mark Atkinson
Head of Sport
Published 5th Jun 2026, 17:29 BST
Veteran boss expected to pen one-year deal for next season
Celtic are set to announce Martin O’Neill as their permanent manager after the Northern Irishman agreed to stay on his role.
O’Neill met Celtic majority shareholder Dermot Desmond earlier this week and the Northern Irishman is expected to sign a one-year deal to preside over first-team matters next season.
Celtic turned to O’Neill not once but twice during a tumultuous 2025/26 campaign, which culminated in the club landing the Premiership title and the Scottish Cup. O’Neill took over after the resignation of Brendan Rodgers in October last year and then the sacking of Wilfried Nancy in January.After a stunning and silverware-clad end to the campaign, Celtic have decided to stick with O’Neill and after productive discussions between all parties, a formal announcement is imminent.
Celtic also held talks with former Ferencvaros and Maccabi Tel Aviv head coach Robbie Keane, but faced a backlash from sections of the fanbase due to his time working in Israel. The Green Brigade released a statement showing their opposition to Keane, while other prominent organisations protested against his potential appointment.
The continuation of O’Neill’s tenure is likely to go down far better with Celtic supporters after he galvanised a struggling squad and led them on a nine-game unbeaten run to land a domestic double. His assistant Shaun Maloney and coach Mark Fotheringham are also expected to be given major roles within the coaching set-up at the Lennoxtown training base.
O’Neill had intimated before the end of the season that he would call it a day after the Scottish Cup final, but after taking some time away from football and discuss matters with his family, he has opted to continue as Celtic manager.
Attention will now turn to the summer transfer window, with Celtic expected to be very active ahead of the domestic season commencing at the start of August. The club also has a Champions League play-off to navigate later that month, in which they will be seeded.
As well as needing to freshen up the squad across all positions, Celtic are set to field bids for some of their key players. Japanese forward Daizen Maeda was close to departing last season after Wolfsburg showed major interest, while the club knocked by multiple bids in the region of £20 million from Nottingham Forest in the winter transfer window for Arne Engels.
There is also expected to be interest in midfielder Benjamin Nygren, who is at the World Cup with Sweden.
–
–