It was a funny moment when Martin O’Neill told Jim Whyte on talkSport yesterday why he was back in London the day after emerging from the Premier Sports Cup semi-final as the winner…
“What are you doing back in London?” Jim White asked the interim Celtic manager on talkSPORT yesterday morning, the day after Martin O’Neill secured Celtic’s place in next month’s Premier Sports Cup final against St Mirren with a 3-1 victory over theRangers. “You’ve got a game in Denmark on Thursday.”
“Remarkable,” O’Neill replied. “I was in such haste to get up there to Scotland last Tuesday, that I had not got my passport. So I had to come down and bring my passport up, otherwise I do not get into Denmark.”
A funny moment, but one that shows Celtic are currently flying by the seat of their pants following the events of the last few months which all came to a head last Monday evening, thus the frantic dash to Glasgow last Tuesday morning for the legendary Celtic manager.
Of course that may have been a cover story and Martin may well have been in London for another reason, perhaps to meet up with Dermot Desmond, who you would imagine – putting aside the rights and wrongs of this if that is the case – is leading the search for Celtic’s next manager following on from Brendan Rodgers.
With other candidates in the mix, some keener than others it has to be noted, Dermot would not want any knowledge of O’Neill being in London to meet him getting out. If there was no way he was going to be able to persuade O’Neill to stay on then the last thing he’d want is for names on his shortlist to know that they weren’t first choice after all.
Just a thought.
The timeline makes sense too. Get the next two games out of the way, hopefully making it four wins from four, hit the international break which will allow Celtic to take a breath and ahead of the AGM – which is set to be lively to say the least – announce Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney will remain in place to the end of the season.
Quite a few ifs, buts and maybes in that but it’s more plausible that Martin having to fly down to London to collect his passport when Celtic could have sorted than in so many different ways that wouldn’t involve Martin have to spend his day in airports and flying to and from Glasgow.
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Still believe that MoN would be the preferred choice of DD and the board until the end of this season imo?
The unanswered question remains as to whether MoN actually fancies such an intense relentless programme of matches, after the international break, right up until the next Glasgow Derby?
Also will include the start of the January window, where there remains a huge chance, that we may well be in a position of having to act very quickly, within our squad depth imo?
So at present, there is plenty to take into consideration, especially with such a challenging and potential season defining period ahead, along with a cup final thrown into the mix as well.
MoN may not be as hands on at present, with what seems as a motivation role and guidance role at present, which helps create that calm and stability, that our club certainly requires at present. The main work with the squad will remain moreso with maloney and fozzy adding a totally different approach for our squad to work upon.
So would MoN, really want to take on such a challenging period of matches, especially with an AGM and the workings of a collective still active and in the making also, at his time of life?
Would be my own preferred option, with all things considered for ourselves, but could certainly understand if MoN didn’t fancy the position also.
Regardless, we will be looking at some amount of changes in players between the January and next summer again, even if unclear as to just how many players could be involved at present?
So massive decisions await, and timing could become a crucial factor in how the whole decision process eventually getting resolved, as to the managers position within our club.
All the while, a few setbacks in the results department, could change the whole picture altogether.
Interesting times may well be in operation regarding huge decision making that exists within our club at present, could well do without making such a drama out of the decision making process involved also imo?