Martin O’Neill spoke to the media last night after Callum McGregor’s spectacular strike deep into stoppage gave Celtic a 1-0 victory over St Mirren in Paisley to narrow the gap on leaders Hearts who take on Aberdeen at Pittodrie. As things stand, having played the same number of games as Hearts, Celtic are four points behind. Here is everything Martin had to say after the match, including his thoughts on the ongoing protests…
Q: Martin, can you sum up your captain’s contribution to that win?
Martin O’Neill: “Well, it was massive, absolutely massive. It was a great goal from a great player. The game is obviously heading for a draw, and I’m not so sure that we deserved any more than that. He scores a fabulous goal. Strangely enough, I just said there in a little interview, I thought he moved it out of his feet just at the edge of the box and thought he could hit this. So it was a great goal. Maybe it didn’t belong with the game, but it was just great to win.”
Q: You might not be there at the end of the season for this, but how significant are games like that?
Martin O’Neill: “To win when you haven’t played well in the match is obviously terrific. I remember that from my time before. To win in that manner, just at the end of the game, was great. I don’t think it was what St Mirren deserved.”
Q: I think you just had two shots on target, Martin. Is that the biggest frustration?
Martin O’Neill: “The frustration? It was more than that really. It was the very fact that we never dealt properly with the ball. When we were in decent possession, we gave it away cheaply. I thought we improved a bit in the second half. We got a bit more momentum going in the second half. But still, we were just cheap at giving the ball away.”
Callum McGregor's 77th goal for Celtic and I'm not sure I've seen a player score as many belters for the club as him. pic.twitter.com/Lc31ZanajZ
— Inside The SPFL (@AgentScotland) November 22, 2025
Q: The results are absolutely everything, was it just good to get back to the football?
Martin O’Neill: “Absolutely. It was great to win. Results are everything. I told the players in the dressing room, have a look at the video on Monday. No problem at all. Look at the things that we didn’t do well. That would be a long evening. It’s just great to win. I was asked the question in there, we didn’t play well tonight, but we do have a decent enough spirit in the team. That comes from the captain.”
Q: Martin, you’re obviously a very experienced manager. What is needed to get Celtic back on top again?
Martin O’Neill: “We need a better performance than tonight for a start. I’m delighted we won because if we had played really well and got beaten tonight, then it’s just a host of frustrations. We’ve just got to be better. We’ve got to be better with the ball and play the game accordingly. It was never going to be easy tonight. I knew this here from when I saw St Mirren play Hibs, it was never going to be easy. It was one of those nights. You’ve got to have the dig in. When you don’t have the ball, you’ve got to defend properly. You’ve got to try and retrieve it as quickly as possible. Things that we’d been doing, I just thought was lacking, particularly in the first half.”
Q: Any word on your future?
Martin O’Neill: “No. You must be bored to death asking. I think everybody is, to tell you the truth. The answer is that I genuinely do not know. I thought it might have been sorted out at the break. It’s not been. This is Saturday night. They’ve got Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Otherwise, there’s a plane that goes to Rotterdam on Wednesday.”
Q: Martin, there’s obviously a lot that happened in the last few days off the pitch. Has that impacted things on the pitch?
Martin O’Neill: “Do you know? That’s a good point. I probably don’t think so. But I’m not sure. When it was a continuation of not really supporting the team tonight, and it was ‘Sack the Board’ the whole way through, I think there’s perhaps just an element that it might… I’m not saying it’s going to affect Maeda who probably wouldn’t know what ‘Sack the Board’ is. But I don’t think it will help. I don’t think it helps.”
Q: Does that disappoint you, Martin? Does that disappoint you to hear that, that they’re not backing the team?
Martin O’Neill: “Listen, the lads will say… They paid their money. They came here tonight. And obviously the scenes at the end were terrific in that sense. We just need some sort of unification again. I know I made the point about Jock Stein. He built the football club on unification. Fans and players and team and everybody else going in the same way.”
Q: That at the end, how crucial was that to try and turn this club around?
Martin O’Neill: “Tonight? Naturally delighted to get the three points, whatever the case may be. I think every little bit helps. I think it helps.”
Q: The scenes of the unity as well with Callum MacGregor, going up to the fans and getting that last kick of the game goal?
Martin O’Neill: “Well, it was just an extraordinary goal really for him. I think that there are signs there. The fans obviously love McGregor anyway. And rightly so for what he’s done at the football club. But I think some sort of unification would be great in the not-too-distant future.”
Q: Have you had enough drama for one week now?
Martin O’Neill: “I have, yeah. You see, I missed training on Friday. But if I’d known the AGM was going to be that short, I would have told them just to hold on until I get up to Lennoxtown. I missed it by a minute.”
Q: Martin, do you think there’s a chance for mediation, for someone to get in and bring both sides together?
Martin O’Neill: “I do, yeah. I absolutely do. Jock Stein would have sorted it out in two days. He would have done. But that was Jock Stein. We’re just followers after all.”
Q: Do you think you can help sort it out?
Martin O’Neill: “Do you know what? Listen, you have to know your place here. I’m only here at this minute. And what you did or were part of 20-odd years ago, I don’t think makes a heap of a difference. But I would love to see it, regardless of who comes in or where I go. It would be great. And I’d be hopeful at some stage or another that that would happen.”
