Martin O’Neill discussed the planned fans boycott for tomorrow’s Scottish Cup tie against Dundee – which is still going ahead, the imminent arrival of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and the three players being added to his Europa League squad among others things at today’s pre-match mainstream media conference…
As is usually the case the Celtic fan media , including The Celtic Star has been banned by the club for no valid reason other than their wish to censor the supporters’ views…
Q: Where are you with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain?
Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, I spoke to him this morning. I think he wants to come, and I think he’s coming.”
Q: What was that conversation like? Last time we spoke to you, you obviously said he was a player you admired, felt maybe he had other options. What’s been a key part of that progressing?
Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, I would have assumed he’s got a number of options. I think he was even talking about Arsenal for his training, might take him on because they might pick up a couple of injuries. So I’m delighted that he’s going to come, and so he says! So I think he’s doing a medical tomorrow and all being well. I’m hoping that he signs on.”
Q: How pleased are you then, because if you were perhaps not so sure that this would be the right place for him, that you or Joe Hart, you mentioned, has perhaps managed to convince him?
Martin O’Neill: “No, I think the football club itself probably has convinced him more than anything else. If indeed it is convincing, you know, we might be having this conversation in 36 hours and he might come up here, see what the weather’s like and disappear back down again quite easily! There are a few who have done that in the past!”
Q: Would you be able to update us on what changes you’ve made to your Europa League squad? The deadline was last night.
Martin O’Neill: “Oh, come on, you’ve got a list young man in front of you and please go with it, you know.”
Q: Can you enlighten us?
Martin O’Neill: “Right, OK, so there was a couple of positions left over and of course being out of the game for a little while, I wasn’t completely sure of what really takes place, you know, whether you can take out long-term injuries, such things like that there. But we’ve got obviously Julian Araujo and Tomas Cvancara came into it because they’ve been here and I think we were allowed to make another change and that was Junior Adamu.”
Q: Just on Alex, obviously there’s not too long left in the season, three months, he has been training. Do you feel that he’ll be able to get up to speed really quickly if you manage to get that one over the line?
Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, I think that’s really the main point about it all. And I think that, again, in terms of European football, because we had to do these particular things, I wanted to make those changes to players who were at the football club rather than waiting around. I think there might be a bit of a disappointment there from Alex’s viewpoint, wanting to show what he can do in the European stage. But, you know, we had to press on. But if he can get up to speed, I do believe that he has got the desire, he wants to do well. He’s 32, which is, in this day and age, really no age whatsoever for players who look after themselves. And that’s the point, how quickly we can do that there. I suppose it’ll be up to both of us, us as a football club and he as a player.”
Q: Martin, there seems to be a sort of backing amongst supporters groups behind a boycott for this weekend’s game, against the board. I just wonder, your sort of understanding of that, do you understand where the supporters are coming from? And the other side of it, how important is it in a title race that the club gets maximum support from the fans?
Martin O’Neill: “Well, naturally, it’s not a great thing. It’s been happening now since certainly going back probably to late August time, if not before that. So it’s something a bit new. I thought that way back when I was managing my very first time here, there was a great togetherness. Hence 75,000 fans descending on Seville for the final. Those things are gone. It’s a new era. And what I would like, if it’s at all possible, if there were some meetings, which I think Mr. Wilson said was going to take place, which is really, that’s a big step forward, I think. And I think he said himself, we might not agree with everything, but let’s find out. Let’s find out what all the ailments are and let’s see if we can rectify some of them. Because going forward, the club will trip itself up if that’s the case.
“I know my first spell here, and I meant it really, even though it was in a sort of a jocular fashion, that maybe the likes of Daizen Maeda and people like this here wouldn’t be worried too much about what’s been shouted across over the pitch. But eventually it’s debilitating. And it does affect people, I know. Celtic have always prided themselves in a sort of togetherness. And it is strange really for it to be in this shape. So we do need the fans in.
“I think you saw John McGlynn speaking way back, taking Falkirk here, saying that the atmosphere can turn toxic pretty quickly, if that’s the case. And that’s not something you want to hear from opposition managers, if you feel that that’s the case. I don’t know, maybe these meetings might take too late before tomorrow’s game, but if they’re talking about some sort of show at Stuttgart, I think we should try and have some sort of talks before then.”
Q: Is that important, that you feel those meetings, there is a middle ground or a solution met as quickly as possible for the good of the club?
Martin O’Neill: “Well, you know, there should be a middle ground. There has to be a middle ground somewhere along the way. It has to be, how quickly we can reach that there is probably in the lap of the gods. But yeah, it would just be nice to know what all of the complaints are about, and the club’s attempt at least to rectify those.”
Q: Back to Oxlade-Chamberlain, you’ve already got experienced players in Kasper Schmeichel and Callum McGregor, how much will that be boosted with someone of that calibre as well?
Martin O’Neill: “That would be nice, yeah, we’ve got a number of young lads now, even some of the lads that I’ve taken on loan until the end of the season. I think someone of his calibre coming in, and just his presence around the ground, as much as anything else. I could maybe get a couple of old ex-players to have done that. This boy here is here to try and play, and try and get into the team, and try and get as fit as quickly as possible. He has been doing the training, but getting back to your point, I think it would be nice to have him here at the squad, just for at least these couple of months.”
Q: When would you realistically think he might be available fitness-wise?
Martin O’Neill: “I don’t know, I really don’t know, I will speak to him. Hopefully he might be travelling up tonight, if he is, I will speak to him tonight, have a little sit down with him, I think he might be doing some medicals tomorrow. That’s, as I just walked through the door, that’s the news that I’ve got. By the time I get out of here, it will have changed!”
Q: Martin, is that a short term deal?
Martin O’Neill: “Yeah it is, and then it’s, both parties have a chat about it afterwards if that’s the case.”
Q: Any squad news?
Martin O’Neill: “Right, I don’t have injuries as such, but I will probably change a few players as much as anything else. We’ve got games coming up thick and fast, I think the Aberdeen game has been rearranged for a Wednesday evening, so that will three away games in six days. Obviously, I don’t think anybody is taking into consideration the fans travelling back and forward to these games, our fans, three away matches, costly business.”
Q: Did that surprise you, given the schedule there is just now?
Martin O’Neill: “It did, yeah, I was pretty surprised at that, how quickly it was organised.”
Watch Martin O’Neill’s pre-match media conference below…
Introducing The Celtic Star App and our new ad-free Premium Service...
Go ad-free on The Celtic Star, get a FREE trial period to try it out. Also download our new App – available for both Apple and Android – and get the best Celtic content on your phone without fighting through pop-up ads and being forced to watch videos.
Our new PREMIUM service comes with a free seven-day trial so you can look before you book. If you are happy to continue the price will be just 99p per month or £9.99 for the year. For that you get an AD-FREE SITE plus access to our premium content, and you’ll also help us make The Celtic Star even better and less reliant on advertising revenues, allowing us to be more focused on publishing the best Celtic features on the internet.
Click HERE to access your FREE trial. We think you’ll like it! We’re Obsessed with Celtic and we think you are too! Join us hand in hand...
