The Parkhead ion pulled no punches in his latest column as he hit at the treatment of his old boss
06:00, 17 Jan 2026Updated 10:22, 17 Jan 2026
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You have to hand it to Martin O’Neill. He could have easily told Celtic where to go when they got back on the phone to him last week.
Instead he answered the call and he’s already steadied the ship again. Falkirk on Wednesday night was not pretty but it was another victory and another clean sheet on the back of the Dundee United win. The problems that have been there all season were plain to see at Falkirk but – in contrast to Wilfried Nancy – O’Neill is making sure Celtic get results by whatever means necessary.
Celtic are extremely fortunate he is willing to step up in the hour of need. It’s taking a huge effort to get things back on track again but when I hear about everything else he’s undertaking at the moment, there is one thing that jumps out.
Celtic are taking the p***.
There’s no other way to describe it. O’Neill has his work cut out putting things right on the pitch but to hear he’s also having to scramble around for players in the January window, working around the clock, constantly watching videos and talking to agents, it almost defies belief.
It also throws up a lot of questions. The Celtic board haven’t been great at answering them this season, that’s for sure. Brendan Rodgers quit and no one came out to explain it, apart from that infamous Dermot Desmond statement and a couple of cosy interviews on the club TV.
There was no one with O’Neill when he was unveiled – twice – and the same when Nancy came in. Similarly, there has still been no official reason why Paul Tisdale was sacked. But it would be handy to get some answers. Like, what the hell has been going on these last six months or so?
O’Neill is running around, talking to agents, watching scouting reports and so on, but it sounds like he’s starting from scratch.
(Image: SNS Group)
I still can’t quite believe we are two weeks into the window and a striker hasn’t already been in the building for a fortnight.
Everyone knew it was beyond a priority. It was an absolute must. Nancy should have had someone in the door on January 1, and O’Neill should definitely have had at least one on board by now. It’s down to the interim manager and sheer luck from the board Celtic have managed to pick up two wins on the bounce since he came back.
I have nothing but admiration for O’Neill’s sense of duty to the club – but they are taking him for granted. It’s like they have brought him back and asked him to sort out the entire place. That’s a tremendous amount of pressure and stress to put on one man – never mind a 73-year-old club legend who is doing them a favour when he could be sitting with his feet up drinking Horlicks and watching Westerns in the afternoons.
I know Tisdale has gone but where is all the work that has been done in the previous year? Where is the list of players being watched and lined up for January? It could be that the list was absolutely useless and O’Neill lobbed it straight into the bin.
But if that’s the case then someone should really say so. Having the interim boss facing the media three times a week having to explain this stuff and saying he barely has enough hours in the day to catch up with Rangers and Hearts is embarrassing.
It makes Celtic look amateurish. Where is the future planning? Where is the structure that Desmond said was working just fine and the previous transfer issues were purely down to Brendan Rodgers? Because from the outside it doesn’t look like there’s ANY structure.
It looks more like Celtic were sleeping on the job and the much-heralded model was more down to luck than design. Right now the silence from above suggests they are in complete denial. Rangers and Hearts have been proactive while Celtic are in a panic.
Rangers know there is a possibility of going straight into the Champions League next season and that could be a total game changer in terms of the domestic competition in years to come. Hearts are up and running with their own recruitment model, identifying players using Tony Bloom’s algorithms, while still achieving remarkable results on the pitch.
Danny Rohl has stabilised the side at Ibrox and is now building for a real push. Hearts keep answering every question that comes their way – like winning six points out of six despite going down to 10 men in both games.
If Celtic think they can trundle along and it will be alright on the night as usual then they have another thing coming. I understand January is a difficult window – enough people in the game tell us – but it shouldn’t be this hard. And the way Celtic are scrambling, it doesn’t bode well for the future either.
Like what happens if Callum McGregor decides to go at the end of the season? That’s another major issue that could be lurking around the corner with talk of joining Brendan Rodgers in Saudi Arabia.
You wouldn’t blame him. McGregor will be 33 in the summer and has achieved everything possible at the club. Is he going to stick around for another massive rebuild under another new manager or get out while the going is good?
I can’t see him departing this month, and it’s just as well, as losing him now is unthinkable. But McGregor needs support. And some kind of vision. It seems O’Neill will need to dig around the loan market and a lot of those deals don’t get done until the end of the window.
Forget about this reluctance to go big – they have to go all in on O’Neill. They can’t bring him back and expect him to work miracles.
He needs help – not left to prop up an entire club.
