Martin O’Neill gives next Celtic manager strong advice amid disunity at club
Mark Atkinson
By Mark Atkinson
Sports Editor
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/latest-celtic-news/martin-oneill-gives-next-celtic-manager-strong-advice-amid-disunity-at-club-5417456
Published 25th Nov 2025, 22:30 GMT
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Celtic AGM
Interim boss believes ‘fresh start’ awaits Rodgers’ successor
Martin O’Neill has told the next Celtic manager not to get bogged down in the civil war between some of the club’s fans and the hierarchy, insisting that they can see it as a “fresh start”.
Interim boss O’Neill watched on from the top table at Friday’s stormy Celtic annual general meeting as shareholders booed chairman Peter Lawwell and directors amid chants of “sack the board” and red cards directed at them from the floor.
Lawwell was forced to adjourn and then abandon proceedings after members of the crowd took umbrage at a speech from Ross Desmond – delivered on behalf of his father and major shareholder Dermot Desmond – where he labelled some Celtic supporters “bullies” for their recent behaviour and conduct.
O’Neill called the whole affair “a sad day” – but believes that whoever comes in to replace Brendan Rodgers on a permanent basis can wash their hands of the disharmony.
French coach Wilfried Nancy is on the brink of being appointed as Celtic thrash out a compensation package with Columbus Crew for him and his coaching staff. O’Neill is set to be in charge of Thursday’s Europa League clash away at Feyenoord and potentially Sunday’s Premiership game at Hibs before in all probability handing over to Nancy – and had words of wisdom for the next man in charge.
“I think that the new manager coming in, I think that he should divorce himself from all those proceedings,” said O’Neill. “This is a fresh start for him. He hasn’t been party to anything that’s happened in recent times.
“So just let’s say it was me, I’d be saying, ‘yeah, that’s got nothing to do with me’. I have to try and win some football games and then maybe at some stage or another, if we can get a real team together that can go and compete, not just domestically, but obviously in European football. Well, that would be his job.
“He’s got a fresh start. He’s going in to step into something that really has been none of his concern. And that’s the way I would be approaching it. And it’s not like passing the buck. It’s just saying, ‘well, sorry, that’s not my making’. My making now is to put Celtic back in the game.”
‘Sooner unity, the better’
Celtic required a stoppage-time winner against St Mirren last weekend to win 1-0 and O’Neill voiced his displeasure at disunity from the stands. He accepted that the longer the rancour continues, the more it will affect the team. “On a longer term basis, I think you might have a point,” the 73-year-old added. “And the sooner that this unity comes back to Celtic, the better.”
Celtic captain Callum McGregor has been trying to insulate the squad from the off-field drama that is engulfing the club right now.
“It’s probably a little bit easier for the players,” the 32-year-old said. “We live in our own wee bubble anyway in terms of preparing for games. We’re trying to protect that as much as we can, saying to players not to listen too much to the outside noise.
“Of course some of it filters in a little bit. But the only thing we can affect is winning games of football and if we can do that, hopefully that will realign the supporters, the team, the club, everyone moving forward. Because Celtic is a much stronger entity when everyone is pushing in the same direction.”
Martin O’Neill Celtic fears prove unfounded – and how he has done Wilfried Nancy a favour
Matthew Elder
By Matthew Elder
Deputy Sports Editor
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/latest-celtic-news/martin-oneill-celtic-fears-prove-unfounded-and-how-he-has-done-wilfried-nancy-a-favour-5422754
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Published 28th Nov 2025, 17:37 GMT
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John Greechan’s Hibs vs Celtic Tactics Zone and the key to victory for Easter Road sideJohn Greechan’s Hibs vs Celtic Tactics Zone and the key to victory for Easter Road side
Legacy enhanced as veteran coach once again proves worth
Eyebrows were raised when Celtic brought Martin O’Neill out of retirement to steady the ship following the resignation of Brendan Rodgers last month.
Doubts were expressed – even Geraldine O’Neill feared her husband would “mess it up” – at the prospect of the 73-year-old returning to the dugout after a six-year absence.
The fear was that O’Neill might somehow tarnish his Celtic legacy, as if that could even be possible given all he achieved in the dugout between 2000 and 2005, by returning to a club in a state of disharmony.
The opposite has proven the case with O’Neill only enhancing his legendary status by steering the club through choppy waters. He has won five of his six matches in charge including an Old Firm cup semi-final and a famous victory over Feyenoord – a first Celtic away win in Europe in four years and the first in the Netherlands since he masterminded a win over Ajax in 2001 – all against the backdrop of significant supporter unrest aimed at the board of directors.
Another victory over Hibs in his final match in charge on Sunday would put the icing on the cake amid calls from fans for a statue to be erected in the Northern Irishman’s honour.
What must his predecessor be thinking? Rodgers enjoyed great success over his two spells in charge of Celtic but O’Neill has proven that his countryman was not getting the most out of the current squad, which he had compared to a Honda Civic.
The team that put Feyenoord to the sword on Thursday was more resemblant of a Rolls Royce and should have been good enough to get past Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan over two legs in the Champions League play-off, let alone avoid falling eight points Hearts at the top of the Scottish Premiership. That gap has now been cut to four with a game in hand.
O’Neill has used his Midas touch to get Celtic back into a good place with momentum building. If he follows up the Rotterdam heroics with another win at Easter Road on Sunday, there will be calls for him to remain at the helm.
Perhaps not ideal when a new manager in Wilfried Nancy is waiting in the wings to take over. Stepping into the shoes of the most popular Celtic manager alive? No pressure, Wilfried.
On the flipside, it could be argued that O’Neill has actually done Nancy a favour ahead of his move from Columbus Crew.
The Frenchman will now be inheriting a squad brimming with confidence which presents a far better starting point than the situation O’Neill was thrust into last month, when Celtic were struggling to find any rhythm and had lost back-to-back league games at Dundee and Hearts.
O’Neill has also given off strong hints that he would not be willing or able to cope with the relentless nature and demands of the job on a permanent basis, as tempting as it might be for him.
“Deep down, have I loved it? I probably have,” he admitted in a Sky Sports interview on Friday.
If he can sign off with another victory at Hibs on Sunday – and few would bet against him – he can ride off into the sunset safe in the knowledge that the club has been left in a strong position in the title race and with a chance of progression in the Europa League.
Has anyone ever received a manager of the month award while no longer with the club? O’Neill must be in the running for November’s award even though he is set to step aside next week.
“I think there’s movement ahead and that, with a fair wind, something should be happening at the beginning of next week,” O’Neill stated in his Friday press conference. “I spoke to a couple of the board members who were saying that things are definitely progressing at the other end.”
The most pertinent observers of the impact O’Neill has had in his 34-day interim tenure are the players themselves.
“He’s amazing,” said Luke McCowan in the aftermath of the 3-1 victory over Feyenoord. “Just an unbelievable character. The way he talks in the team meetings, it’s just brilliant. He just says stuff that is at the top of his mind there and then, and it just breaks the ice within the whole room.
“He’s able to take the heat off a serious situation or a serious team talk, he’s able to make it fun and light but at the same time tells you that there are demands that come with playing for this club.
“That’s the main thing he always pushes. Even right after the game he came in and said, ‘Right lads, we’re in tomorrow, we’ve got a game on Sunday’. That was his first message.
“You can tell he’s been a top manager and that is why he is so respected. His best quality is man-managing people and getting the best out of the crowd that he’s got.
“It’s just been great seeing the sort of demands he places on everybody, knowing that when you play for Celtic this is what is needed. Then he’s just brought that humour with how he is, and it’s been great. It’s been class.”
Boyhood Celtic fan McCowan admitted it was “surreal” to be working under a man whose initial reign he had heard all about from family members.
“It’s been like a time machine and just how I thought it would be,” the 27-year-old said. “I would have loved to have seen him when he was 20 years younger and probably had more energy and more hunger!
“He’s been great for the boys as it has shown and as it will for Sunday too, and we just need to keep pushing and putting on performances.”
Regardless of the result, O’Neill can be assured of a rousing send-off in Leith.
Martin O’Neill happy to prove his wife wrong as Celtic achieve something ‘really big’
By Ross McLeish
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/latest-celtic-news/martin-oneill-happy-to-prove-his-wife-wrong-as-celtic-achieve-something-really-big-5421258
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Published 27th Nov 2025, 21:50 GMT
Updated 27th Nov 2025, 21:54 GMT
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O’Neill masterminds famous European win in Rotterdam
Martin O’Neill savoured a “terrific” final European triumph with Celtic after watching the confidence “flood” into his players during a 3-1 win over Feyenoord in Rotterdam.
O’Neill’s only setback in six games in interim charge so far with Shaun Maloney came against Midtjylland when his side shipped three goals in eight minutes.
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But Celtic bounced back from conceding early at De Kuip as goals from Yang Hjun-jun, Reo Hatate and Benjamin Nygren saw them move on to seven points in the Europa League.
O’Neill is expected to make way for Frenchman Wilfried Nancy after Sunday’s league game against Hibs at Easter Road and he will bow out with another memorable European adventure to add to wins over the likes of Juventus, Liverpool and Barcelona earlier in the century.
The 73-year-old, who led Celtic to the 2003 UEFA Cup final, said: “It’s really big, I must admit. I’m obviously thrilled for the team. There’s a bit of selfishness attached to it all as well. That was lovely to win.
“Just to win away from home, but to win in Feyenoord is just terrific.”
The former Republic of Ireland manager walked off to the Celtic fans singing his name after a first European away win in four years and first in the Netherlands since O’Neill masterminded victory over Ajax in 2001.
“Well, I told my two brothers who came to the game, I told them to start the chant, so they must have done so,” he joked. “Honestly, I’m in great fettle now. Then I’ll wake up and just get ready for the Hibs game. But I might as well enjoy it while it lasts.”
O’Neill has been taking it game by game since returning in the wake of Brendan Rodgers’ departure but five wins from six matches so far, including a Premier Sports Cup semi-final win over Rangers, has exceeded expectations of some at least.
“Hard to say, really, what I thought,” he said. “My two daughters were all on for going for it, and then my wife said that I’d probably mess it up. I have been trying to phone her to tell her I hadn’t messed it up so far.
“It’s been great. The results are everything. It’s what you live by, and the results have been terrific.”
O’Neill added: “We played really, really well. There was a period in the game, a fairly lengthy period, where we were totally dominant, controlling the ball, and exuded a lot of confidence, which was a lovely thing to see.
“Obviously, going a goal behind as well, we could have crumbled. I was really proud of them. They showed character and resilience but then, when we got the equaliser, confidence just flooded into the side and they played wonderfully well.
“I said this to them before the game, you will get a chance to play. They’re a very fine side, Feyenoord, they are just going through a dip at this moment, but they’ve got players who can play.
“But they will also give you a chance to play, and we took that chance.”
O’Neill staying at Celtic for now… but should it be for even longer?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c4gp0z4xvwdo
Martin O’NeillImage source, PA Media
ByKheredine Idessane & Richard Winton
BBC Sport Scotland
Published
30 November 2025, 11:55 GMT
Updated 30 minutes ago
Martin O’Neill now thinks there is a “strong possibility” he will still be in charge of Celtic when Dundee visit on Wednesday.
Faltering Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts are next up after that on Sunday. Then Roma in the Europa League. Both in the east end of Glasgow. The League Cup final against St Mirren comes next, in two weeks’ time.
As the protracted process to make Wilfried Nancy the full-time successor to Brendan Rodgers drags on, might Celtic be better-served leaving the 73-year-old Northern Irishman in charge for a little while longer?
After Sunday’s win over Hibernian, O’Neill has six victories in his seven games. The Celtic players look revived. The fans are chanting his name.
He is clearly relishing being back in amongst it but believes he will just have one more ‘final’ game before disappearing back to his retirement.
But what has changed in his 35 days in charge? What’s the hold up with Nancy? And could O’Neill perhaps stick around a little while longer?
Impressive Celtic go within two points of Hearts after win at Hibs
‘Mad scientist’ & ‘next Luis Enrique’ – who is Nancy?
Published
14 November
Latest Celtic news, analysis and fan views
What impact has O’Neill made?
The numbers are impressive. Played seven, won six. Scored 18, conceded six.
They look even better when you factor in that only two of those games have been at home – with a previously impotent and misfiring team putting eight goals past Falkirk and Kilmarnock.
There was a League Cup semi-final at Hampden against Rangers. And two tough European away games, one of which resulted in a landmark win at Feyenoord.
Plus two tricky trips to St Mirren and Hibs, both resulting in priceless away victories.
O’Neill has a perfect domestic record in his five games in interim charge and will be fancied to make it six out of six when struggling Dundee come calling in midweek.
Hearts were eight points clear when he took charge, having beaten Celtic in Rodgers’ final match in charge.
The gap at the top is now two, with the Edinburgh side having played a game more.
Graphic
What has changed?
Things had ground to a halt under Rodgers. Celtic were simply awful in a 2-0 defeat at Dens Park and not much better in the 3-1 mauling at Tynecastle.
That proved the final straw for major shareholder Dermot Desmond and the board.
It’s been night and day since O’Neill returned to the club where he’d been revered in his previous stint between 2000 and 2005.
Where Celtic had struggled for goals and creativity in the latter stages of the Rodgers era, they’ve flown in under the former Republic of Ireland manager.
Players who didn’t have much of a look-in before, such as Auston Trusty, Callum Osmand and Johnny Kenny, were given a chance. The likes of Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate, a shadow of their former selves early in the season, suddenly look reborn.
This now looks more like the Celtic of a year ago, when Rodgers had the team at the peak of its powers, swatting domestic opposition aside and looking like a very decent Champions League outfit.
While league leaders Hearts have, by their own admission, lost their ‘swagger’ in recent weeks, Celtic have rediscovered theirs.
“There’s been a response,” O’Neill told Sky Sports after the win over Hibs. “Some of the players can really, really play this game. They just lost a bit of confidence.
“Half the team wouldn’t have known who I was. They’re thinking, this gentleman has arrived, quite old, grey hair. Who is he? And has Father Christmas come early? But it’s reinvigorated me, being around young people.
“I often thought that, you know, if you can praise the players well, they’ll accept a little bit of criticism, even in this day and age.”
What’s the hold-up with Nancy?
O’Neill effectively confirmed on Sunday that Nancy is the man Celtic are waiting for but that “paperwork” is holding up the deal.
The Frenchman needs a work permit, for a start. As do his backroom staff. And none of that can be sorted until the terms of their employment are confirmed.
So until the finer points of all the various contracts are signed and sealed, O’Neill will keep taking the team. So, as it stands, the earliest sighting of Nancy would be when Hearts visit next Sunday.
“I genuinely thought this was going to be the last game,” O’Neill explained at Easter Road. “Then I get a call yesterday to say that there’s a little bit more paperwork to be done. It must be some amount of paperwork…
“It looks as if I’ll see it through to Wednesday night.”
While the small print is poured over, former Scotland international James McFadden is content Celtic are in perfectly good hands with O’Neill.
“He’s come in and probably exceeded expectation,” McFadden said on Sky Sports. “His job was to stabilise the club and put them in a better place, and that’s the case.
“He’s done that brilliantly, winning games, and performances have been great. You can see a team working and fighting for each other.
“You can tell what the fans feel about him. He’s a legend and you can see he’s enjoying himself.”
01:49
Media caption,
O’Neill on Celtic future as final game approaches
Could Celtic keep O’Neill on?
Long-term? No. That ship has sailed.
Short-term? Probably not, either, although O’Neill did joke afterwards that he had “hidden” the paperwork to allow him to continue in the role and that continuing until the League Cup final “would be lovely”.
Listening to the Celtic fans who have been in touch with BBC Sport Scotland, plenty would be minded to stick with O’Neill through the next couple of weeks at least.
As one said, would it not be better to allow Nancy to take over a side who have just won a trophy rather than take over and risk losing a final so early in his tenure?
Given the Frenchman’s lack of coaching experience outside North America, another option might be O’Neill sticking around in an advisory capacity.
When asked, he said he wouldn’t be averse to that but only if this appealed to the new manager and that he thought it unlikely.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he told BBC Sport Scotland.
“The new manager has got to get himself together and stamp his own personality on the team and prepare himself for January to try to enhance the squad.”
Should he disappear back into the football punditocracy, O’Neill will bid Celtic farewell with his reputation as a club legend enhanced. Not that he seems concerned about that…
“Honestly, I’ve never worried about a legacy,” he said. “My worry was failing. And we certainly haven’t done that.
“I remember when my father said to me when I was a player: ‘If Celtic come for you, you go there’. The second best thing is managing the team. And they’ve come for me twice.”
Celtic’s 37 days of Martin O’Neill: the player reaction, ‘he’s a lad’ and plan to wave until midnight
Mark Atkinson
By Mark Atkinson
Sports Editor
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/latest-celtic-news/celtics-37-days-of-martin-oneill-the-player-reaction-hes-a-lad-and-message-on-transfers-5427198
Published 3rd Dec 2025, 07:30 GMT
Updated 3rd Dec 2025, 07:30 GMT
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The journey is almost at an end – and it’s not a problem for interim boss
This is it. This is goodbye. “Definitely,” said Martin O’Neill, when asked if Wednesday night’s home clash with Dundee will be his last interim charge of Glasgow Celtic.
This has been a long goodbye. By close of play, O’Neill will have held the Parkhead fort for 37 days. When the 73-year-old sensationally rocked up as babysitter for an ailing Celtic team at the end of October, he suggested it could be a very short-term affair.
His efforts in the dugout and on the training pitch have given Celtic’s board time to breathe. The manager-in-waiting is Wilfried Nancy. The Frenchman was supposed to be making his bow against Dundee but paperwork issues have got in the way. In a way, it’s worked out well. O’Neill can say farewell to his adoring public at a sold-out Celtic Park rather than in front of a thousand away fans at Easter Road.
That 2-1 triumph over Hibs made it seven wins out of eight in all competitions. O’Neill has revived Celtic, to the point where some are asking if he should be given even longer to weave his magic.
“You’ll be really pleased to hear this,” O’Neill continued on his final match in typical self-deprecating fashion on his impending departure. “And I’m semi-pleased myself! It’s not a problem to me. Genuinely not a problem to me. And if you’re saying to me, ‘would you be missing a cup final?’ It doesn’t really bother me, honestly.
“And I know you might look at me as if, well, he’s not really telling the truth there. It doesn’t. The reason being, I was given a remit to come in here. It was either you could be here two weeks, you could be here two months.
“They had things in place and that was my job. I’d never even looked at what the games were anyway. And so it really does not bother me. The minute you use the word ‘really’, you might think, well, he does mean it. I don’t. I really don’t.”
Celtic award pleases O’Neill
Celtic have rediscovered some of their swagger since O’Neill came in. He has bred confidence throughout Lennoxtown. There are smiles on everyone’s faces. His personality has been infectious. One slightly fears for Dundee, with the Celtic players no doubt keen to give the Northern Irishman a proper send-off. He was named November’s manager of the month – the tenth such award across two spells in Glasgow. “I have got to tell you, I am really pleased, I am,” he smiled. “I am thankful if it was voted for, I really am.”
There is also revenge on the mind. Celtic lost 2-0 to Dundee in mid-October. It was the last match they failed to score a goal in.
O’Neill has tried to play down the sentimentality of it all. Will he soak it all up, given it is more than likely his last game on the sidelines in a glittering managerial career and his family plan to attend? “Certainly not before the game,” he fired back. “I have only one thing on my mind, to try and beat Dundee. They beat us a number of weeks ago. They had a great result at the weekend and they’ll be flying. So that is the only thing I am thinking about.”
What about afterwards? “It will depend on the result. If we win I’ll be waving until midnight. Yeah, they’ll be putting the lights out. But we have to win the game.”
O’Neill is right; Celtic do have to win the game against Dundee. The gap between them and leaders Hearts has been whittled down to just two points. The duo meet on Sunday, Nancy’s first match in charge. O’Neill wants to leave the club in the best shape possible for the new boss.
O’Neill has spoken fondly of the squad that he inherited. “The little Uruguayan, he’s a lad,” was a lovely line from him on impressive left-back Marcelo Saracchi. The 3-1 Europa League defeat by Midtjylland was a sobering reminder of Celtic’s recent fall from grace but it is so far the only blot on the copybook. They have responded to his cajoling and the coaching of assistant Shaun Maloney, whose part in all of this cannot be underplayed.
“You don’t really know players until you’re working with them,” explained O’Neill. “But the best way for me to have picked it up is in the training field. Somebody does something, I think, well, that’s nice.
“For instance, [Hyun-jun] Yang’s come in and he definitely has ability. I think confidence was a bit low, like everything else. And then sometimes if you’re a wide player and you don’t beat players immediately, maybe you lose it twice – I know this from playing wide right – the next thing you do is you’ll just lay it back.
A message for Nancy and board
“It takes brave players, but if you encourage the player to keep going and try and beat the players… I’m talking about in the final third. I don’t want them to start dribbling outside my own box, which you might have a habit of doing!
“But overall, come on, encourage players to go and do it. Give them their will to go and do it and express themselves, particularly creative players.”
But there was a message to Nancy – and perhaps the board – when asked if he has seen enough from the squad to suggest they can kick on to achieve their goals this season. “I think with the injuries that they’ve sustained, the injuries to big players as well which we’ve not had at their disposal for us, then I think that obviously recruitment in January to supplement the squad would be pretty important,” added O’Neill.
A lot of building work to be done at Celtic. O’Neill plans to lay one last foundation.
Martin O’Neill: I’ve had the time of my life over the last five weeks
https://www.celticfc.com/news/2025/december/03/martin-o-neill–i-ve-had-the-time-of-my-life-over-the-last-five-weeks/
First Team
By Matthew Campbell
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03 Dec 2025, 11:13 pm
The word ‘legend’ is, from time to time, thrown around with abandon in the world of modern football, but it is a word which, in the context of Celtic Football Club, describes Martin O’Neill perfectly.
His incredible trophy-laden first spell as Celtic manager in the early 2000s ensured that his legacy in the East End of Glasgow would be enshrined forever, and his time as interim boss over the last five weeks has only served to bolster that legacy even further.
After guiding the Hoops to next week’s League Cup Final, securing the club’s first European away win in over four years and helping to push Celtic towards the top of the Premiership table with a flawless domestic record, tonight’s final whistle after a 1-0 home win over Dundee brought to an end another incredible chapter in Martin O’Neill’s Celtic story.
The love and affection that the Celtic faithful have for the legendary Celtic manager was clear to see come full time, with a full stadium singing his name and, rightly, showing their appreciation for a man who has delivered so much Celtic joy.
Speaking to Celtic TV after the match, Martin reflected on what has been a special few weeks.
“The reception I got was really fantastic.” He said. “My backroom staff have been sensational, but the game is still about players.
“They’ve turned up and won the matches. We’ve had a number of injuries and players have stepped up to the plate every single time.
“I’ve had the time of my life over the last five weeks. It’s five or six weeks that I will never ever forget.”