Interim bosses Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney speak to the media

Q: Can I ask you, Shaun, as well? You’ve obviously, in your previous role at the club, worked very closely with Brendan. Can I ask your thoughts on Brendan, on his character, on his style, and the general atmosphere in and around the club before his departure?

Shaun Maloney: “In terms of him as a guy, my relationship was just really positive. He gave me my first coaching job seven or eight years ago, so I’m extremely grateful to him for that. I stayed in contact with him as I had different jobs, and being back here for the last three or four months, it picked up pretty much exactly where it was. My experience of him is a brilliant guy, a brilliant coach, extremely successful here. The feeling in the training ground was, as you’d imagine, sometimes after results, the training ground’s lower than others, but that’s pretty normal in every football club. The training ground was good. Today was difficult, as you’d expect. It was a turbulent day, a traumatic day really for everyone, not just at the stadium, but at the training ground. As expected, it was a tough morning.”

Q: You worked with the players this morning at Lennoxtown, you took training, is that correct? What do you feel that the players need right now, and how is their mentality and resolve after what’s been a bruising couple of weeks for the team and then a sucker punch last night?

Shaun Maloney: “If you take away the previous two weeks, I was in a very different role. I think today, as best as I could, and the other staff, after speaking with Martin, it was just trying to bring them stability, a little bit of normality in terms of preparations for the game. It’s really difficult; the club have lost some brilliant people. That happens in football, but you have to turn that around quickly and try to prepare the team against a good side. You have to move on pretty quickly.”

Q: Is being the manager on a permanent basis a goal for you, either short-term or long-term?

Shaun Maloney: “No. I came back here in a role with the board and Brendan. I’m going to try my best to support Martin and the players, but I’m very similar to Martin. I’m here in the interim, then I will go back to my role.”

Q: How will the dynamic work between you two?

Martin O’Neill:“If this had been 20-odd years ago, I would have definitely been dishing out all the instructions. But since this young man has been a manager, I’d have to be careful what I say to him, and I think that he might actually be giving me instructions. It’s nice to see him; he keeps me young. It’s nice because I took him to Aston Villa, and then he claimed he was homesick and came back to Celtic. I’ve never really forgiven him for that. This is the first time that we’ve, other than the time when he was working in Belgium, the first time we’ve really met up. So I’ve got a lot to say to him now when this finishes, and it won’t be positive!”

Q: Martin, can I just go back to, obviously, it was quite public what happened between Dermot and Brendan. Did that give you any reservations about coming back to the club and saying yes to this opportunity?

Martin O’Neill: “No. If there’s such a thing as enjoying it, and I sometimes even wondered throughout my career whether I ever really, really enjoyed it – I’m probably too miserable to enjoy it. But I’m now, at this ripe old age, I’m going to try and enjoy it. The only way I will do it, the only way I’ve ever lived, is really by trying to win football matches. From that viewpoint, I have no… well, I said no hesitation, I was given only 10 minutes to make my mind up, so I had to do it in that time. I’m fine with it, but I would have no problem.

“I go back to someone who actually gave me the job in the first place, way back 25 years ago, when, in all honesty, at that stage, there were a lot of big, bigger names than myself in for that job. It was a real honour to manage the football club. From that viewpoint, I’m fine. As I said to you, I would intermittently keep in touch with Dermot, but it would never be anything like this. And as I said to you, all the times that they’ve changed managers, he’s never asked me, but why would he? Because they’ve kept winning, so it doesn’t make any difference. Other than giving Maloney a bit of a rollicking later on, I’m fine.”

Q: Martin, what’s going through your mind when you think about going out there back in that dugout tomorrow night?

Martin O’Neill: “Genuinely, a nervous excitement about it. I was always a bit nervous about matches anyway. I’m so excited by it. Obviously, I want to try and win the game, which is the most important thing. If there is some sort of clapping for me, I’m well aware that in this game, that will last for about 15 minutes. So at the end of the day, you have to win. And that’s what we have to do. Celtic has always had that DNA, for want of a better word, you have to win.”

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