Martin O’Neill on the Celtic role he could thrive in to help new manager as ball put in Dermot Desmond’s court

The veteran manager, 74, has refused to rule out staying on at the club in some capacity beyond his interim spell

Celtic boss Martin O’Neill(Image: SNS Group)

Celtic already let Martin O’Neill walk out the door once this season.

They’d be wise not to let it happen again. The Hoops face a seismic summer overhaul as they set about rebuilding a broken club.

A new chairman, recruitment chief, manager and a brand new squad are all at the top of the list. But they must also identify a unifying presence that the fans can rally around. That man could already be in the building.

In typical O’Neill fashion, the wily old fox dances around probing questions with clever answers and trademark wit. At 74, the iconic gaffer has been in the game long enough to know how to handle the press.

Up until now, the Northern Irishman has laughed off suggestions he could stick around beyond this term. But after three full months at the helm in his second interim stint, O’Neill, for the first time, left the door open to staying in some sort of capacity.

That might not be as manager. Celtic chiefs could well look for a younger head coach to construct a new-look team for the long haul. But they also need experience and a central voice that can play a fundamental role in repairing a club split at every level.

O’Neill has yet to hold talks with Parkhead decision-makers over what his future holds. But the Hoops great did leave the door open to staying on – either in the director’s box or dugout.

O’Neill said: “Hypothetically, put it like this. Let’s say there was a new manager coming in and I’m at the club in some capacity.

“Let’s say, for instance, as an advisor to the board, whatever that means.

“If I was the new manager coming in, I probably wouldn’t mind who was on the board and who wasn’t – as long as there was a committee for signing players and as long as the manager would have the final say.

“I would think that could work. There obviously has to be affordability, but as long as the manager – whoever that may be – has the final say then I think things could work.

“And also I think the manager coming in would be hoping that someone, like an old figure like me, would be on his side.

“If I was stepping in now as a 45 year-old manager, those are the things I’d like. I’d ask for the final say, if we could afford the player, and would the man advising the board be on my side?”

Of course, O’Neill knows how it works in this part of the world.

If he can somehow mastermind a famous title triumph against the odds, fans will be clamouring for the veteran to be handed the reins full-time.

Should it go the other way, punters will be demanding another ambitious appointment that can restore the glory days.

Whatever happens, Michael Nicholson and co can’t afford to make another catastrophic blunder like Wilfried Nancy’s doomed 33-day reign.

Decision-makers Dermot Desmond and Michael Nicholson(Image: SNS Group)

Dermot Desmond might well sound out O’Neill’s opinion on who should lead the club into 2026/27 and beyond.

But O’Neill said: “Look, one never knows whether a manager is going to be good or not. Not really.

“What you can do, when you’re taking a manager on who’s had some really decent senior experience, is maybe make a better judgement. But you don’t really know at the end of it all.

“You could be recommending someone and then after 16 weeks you’re saying ‘oh, I don’t know about that.’

“Then you wouldn’t want to be accepting all the blame! So I would think I would maybe stay out of that part of it.”

Whether he’s involved next season or returns to his role as a talkSPORT pundit, O’Neill has his own views on the direction the club must go in.

He said: ”I think this season is an eye-opener for us, in every aspect.

“I think it’s something that a real proper sit-down and discussing what happened this season in every aspect and maybe try and unify the club again, which would be fantastic.

“I think that in itself is a major thing in terms of who would be in charge. You’re hoping that the recruitment would be vitally important and try and learn from the things that we didn’t do well this year.”

With half a dozen loan players due to return to their parent clubs and prized assets like Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and Arne Engels tipped to move on, the class of 2026/27 could be almost unrecognisable from the current dressing room.

Asked if Celtic can hit the reset button and turn things around quickly over the summer months, O’Neill added: “From my own viewpoint, the short answer to that there is yes, I do.

“I don’t think if you’re asking fans now that, listen, we’ve got a five-year plan or something this year, that’s not working. That’s not working in life now, never mind anything else, but it’s certainly not working in football.

“The manager used to step in and think that in five years, you’ve just seen what’s happened to managers getting six, seven, eight games.

“So money’s dictating everything. But in short, to your answer, I think, yeah, it is, but it would be recruitment being very, very important.

“Unification of the football club would be great. People on the same side. I’m so pleased it’s not a matter of harking back to my day, and maybe that’s to do with the fact that when I came in, there hadn’t been that great success before, so people were striving for it.

“Listen, don’t get me wrong. I’ve been at Celtic way back in 2001, 2002, when you haven’t scored early and there’s mumblings and grumblings.

“That’s all over the place. But the general feeling was that everybody was together, and I think that was important.”