Martin O'Neill returns to Celtic until the end of the Season
Club legend Martin O'Neill returns to Celtic just 33 days after he made way for Wilfried Nancy, who was sacked this afternoon after losing 6 out of his 8 games.
Celtic have announced the return of club legend Martin O’Neill as manager until the end of the season, just 33 days after he made way for the ill-fated tenure of Wilfried Nancy, who was sacked this afternoon after winning just two out of his 8 games in charge.
O’Neill will once again be assisted by Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham in the dugout, along with Stephen McManus - joining existing coaches Gavin Strachan, Stevie Woods and Greg Wallace to oversee first team matters.
Speaking to the official Celtic website after his return to the Celtic role for the second time this season, O’Neill said: “I am really pleased, in fact, very honoured to be asked back to manage the team again and I am looking forward to getting back to work again with the players.
“I know we would all have hoped for things to have worked out differently under Wilfried and I personally want to wish him good luck with everything he does in the game. He is a fine man and I am sure he will go on and achieve success again, I have no doubt of that.
“For me, I’ve been asked to take this great job on again and my focus will be to try and get us back to winning ways if we can. We will need everyone right behind us.
“We still have a lot to look forward to and a lot to try and achieve, and myself, Shaun and the coaching staff and, of course, the players will be giving everything to achieve all the success we can for the club.”
Clearly Dermot Desmond has once again switched on the bat signal and O’Neill has answered his call once again when Celtic need it most.
Speaking after O’Neill’s re-appointment, Dermot Desmond said: “I am pleased to welcome Martin back to Celtic. We know exactly what he will bring and we hope that he can do what he has done for us before, giving us that drive and direction as we move into the next part of the season.
“We all know about his proven track record with the club and hope he can bring us similar success going forward.
“When we appointed Wilfried to the role of manager, clearly we thought we could enjoy a successful period under his control. Unfortunately this did not work out in the way we would have liked, and while he and the club are disappointed with the recent period, I want to take this opportunity to wish him well in all he does going forward.”
During his first spell at the club following the departure of Brendan Rodgers at the end of October, O’Neill guided Celtic to 7 wins out of 8 games to bring Celtic back to just three points behind league leaders Hearts with a game in hand. He also helped put Rangers to the sword in the League Cup Semi Final and dispatched Dutch giants Feyenoord in the Europa League.
With Celtic once again trailing Hearts by six points, O’Neill’s first game in charge will be Saturday’s league game at home to Dundee United where the Celtic support will be hoping to bury Nancy’s disastrous tenure to the back of their minds and watch the team secure all three points.
It's the right thing to do to steady the Celtic ship. Mon, Sean and Mark will get the squad back on track again, and they will be very relieved to see the back of the nightmare that was Wilfried Nancy and his MLS entourage, and the snake oil salesman Paul Tisdale.
Nancy will be laughing all the way to the Wells Fargo bank, having scammed Celtic FC with a £2M pay off and got himself an unearned boosted footballing resume, for the next suckers that come along to foolishly employ this charlatan as an actual football coach.
Tough task lies ahead for Mon, because Hearts and Rangers have all the momentum, and they will undoubtedly strengthen again this January window, along with Motherwell and Hibs coming up fast behind in the rear mirror.
Interesting times lie ahead, that's for sure.
Of course it's a massive relief and a cause for celebration.....but why on earth is a minority shareholder making an official club comment on these matters?