Martin O’Neill this afternoon accepted that it would be difficult for Celtic to win the Scottish Premiership is his side dropped many more points. A win tomorrow against Motherwell is absolutely essential. Kieran Tierney is likely to play while Celtic captain Callum McGregor will miss out with a calf injury….
Martin O’Neill spoke to the mainstream media at Lennoxtown this afternoon ahead of tomorrow’s low awaited return to Paradise when Celtic take on Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership. As things stand the Green Brigade remain banned as does the Celtic fan media including The Celtic Star.
Here’s everything that was said…
Q: Martin, it feels like there’s been a lot going on this week with your joy, I’m sure, at going through in the cup versus a lot of fallout from the scenes at full time. How do you reflect on it all now?
Martin O’Neill: “I thought, naturally, the rules are that people should stay in their positions. I thought there was a lot of emotion, joy, things like that there, coming on, our crowd coming in. Next thing you know, I’m up there. My general thing is maybe to wave to the away fans at the end, regardless of the result. And then you seem to be caught in the middle of it. Next thing you know, the Rangers fans are coming at the other end. So yeah, obviously the scenes weren’t great. So I think the SFA are holding an inquiry about it.
“And to me, the saddest part about it all is that, of course you don’t want anybody injured for a start, although they think there were some scenes outside the football club. But to me, the idea then that the full allocation of tickets looks as if that will disappear again. And that’s something that, as I said to you, I would like to have seen. And I assume that because of those scenes, it probably won’t happen. I suppose that was a bigger allocation for the top anyway. A league allocation is still bigger than it was, but it’s smaller than the weekend.”
Q: Rangers are due to come to Celtic Park after the split. Is there a fear from you that that won’t play out the way it normally does? Or how do you see that transpiring?
Martin O’Neill: “No, no, Rangers will be due their allocation, won’t they? And they’re entitled to that as well too. It’s a league game, so I don’t think anybody’s arguing about that. But what I was talking about was the full allocation, something that I feel the fixture, although still a great fixture, has missed in years. And it looks, because of the happenings on Sunday, I assume that everybody will have a look at it and think, well, maybe it’s not worthwhile.”
Q: Does it feel like it’s overshadowed the joy of progressing in the Cup? I know you kind of touched on that after the game, when we were almost a week off.
Martin O’Neill: “Well, yes, I suppose maybe because it was the first question that was asked at the time, I thought that the efforts were big from us. We were minus a couple of really big players for us as well too. So stepping in and going there and getting the result in the manner in which we did, getting through on penalties eventually, it was a tough afternoon for us. I knew it would be. And Rangers, I suppose, pretty well at full strength. I thought it was a brilliant defensive action by us, and naturally, I’m pleased that we’ve won the game.”
Q: Can it be a springboard, Martin, for the remainder of the campaign? Have you sensed that around the trend around the last seven days, the atmosphere just lifting?
Martin O’Neill: “No, I don’t think the atmosphere has needed lifting. I think, if anything, I think the result on Wednesday at Aberdeen probably gave us that lift to go to Ibrox and try and get a result. So, no, I think the players are pretty buoyant and have been now for some time. Obviously, during the course of weeks, if you didn’t get a result, as we didn’t against Hibs, there’s just a natural deflation. But you have to try and overcome that as soon as possible. And I think we’ve done that.”
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