Martin O’Neill was open to continuing in charge of Celtic

Martin O’Neill yesterday revealed he was open to continuing in charge of Celtic had the board requested it…

The veteran manager was speaking on talkSPORT a day after Celtic’s 3-1 loss to St Mirren in the Premier Sports League Cup final.

With Wilfried Nancy suffering a third consecutive defeat since taking over on a permanent basis, O’Neill addressed the current situation at Celtic and reflected on the possibility of extending his temporary role beyond the interim period.

While answering a question from presenter Jim White about his willingness to lead the team into Sunday’s showpiece final after beating theRangers 3-1 in the semi-final last month, O’Neill replied: “Only if asked. That was not a driving force. I’d happily have stayed on.”

“If they had asked me to stay on, I would’ve done so, but the minute that they said, ‘no, that’s your time’, that’s fine by me.”

Reflecting on his return to Celtic Park after Brendan Rodgers unexpectedly stepped down in October, O’Neill added: “I stepped into the job, Dermot had said to me, he said, ‘you could be in it two weeks or two months, we’re looking for someone’,”

“When you get into it, you really enjoy it. You enjoy winning, that’s the point – this is what it’s about. I’ve never lost the appetite for the game, I’ve certainly not lost enthusiasm and I’ve got energy to burn.”

Shaun Maloney and Martin O'Neill. — Shaun Maloney and Martin O’Neill. Celtic v theRangers. Premier Sports Cup, semi final at Hampden. 2 November 2025. Photo AJ (The Celtic Star)

Celtic face Dundee United at Tannadice tomorrow night in what feels like a must-win game for Nancy and his players. If the Frenchman is to restore any belief into supporters that he is the right man for the job, he must start winning games.

Should he suffer a fourth successive defeat at the hands of Jim Goodwin’s side, it already feels like there would be no way back for the newly appointed Celtic manager.

Conor Spence

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