Martin O’Neill has admitted he is looking forward to the opportunity to lead Celtic into next month’s Premier Sports Cup final against St Mirren. The caretaker manager also revealed he would welcome discussions with Dermot Desmond about his long-term prospects at Parkhead.
On December 14, O’Neill’s name rang around the National Stadium as the Bhoys defeated a determined Rangers to qualify for the game against Saints.
The 73-year-old does not expect to remain in the post as Celtic leaders search for a permanent successor. But when asked about his chances of leading the team to the finals, O’Neill admitted:
“I actually went to see Midtjylland play Nottingham Forest and they were really good, it was at the City Ground and we have a game against Kilmarnock coming up on Sunday.
“So, to be honest, these games are all about the result and that will determine whether the board takes the time to think about it. If we had lost today, we might not even have seen Thursday.”
Mr O’Neill does not expect to secure a permanent role but is willing to enter into negotiations with influential Dermot Desmond. “The very obvious answer is, yes, I will. But I don’t really know what will happen.
“When I saw their game and then the international break, I thought they would have a couple of weeks to think about it. I haven’t even spoken to him since. In a perverse sense, I enjoyed those two games, but not too much.”
“There’s no indication at this point, there’s really no indication. Absolutely none. I don’t think those conversations are going to happen. I really don’t think they’re going to happen. I came here, and deep down I might be having a little more fun than I’m going to tell you, but not that much.
“I had a lot of help from the backroom staff,[Sean]Maloney, Mark Fotheringham and Stephen[McManus]. So, yeah, it was great. It’s a great feeling in the dressing room when you win a game like that.”
“It was a really weird feeling being in the Hampden locker room. It was really weird. But I’m glad we won. I would have felt really bad if it had been the other way around.”
O’Neill was delighted to see a thrilling Hampden encounter that saw Johnny Kenny, Callum McGregor and youngster Callum Osman find the back of the net in a nail-biting extra-time battle against Rangers.
he declared: “Obviously we’re happy to win and it’s a relief from that standpoint. But we played really well and scored a goal and even though the goal was called off, I thought we played really, really well.”
“Then Rangers got a red card and I thought they had control of the game right after half-time. They had a really good 10-15 minutes and we lost our way a little bit, but then they got a penalty and it went into extra time and obviously Callum scored a great goal.”
“I’m glad we won, but there were definitely things we could have improved on. I don’t know what they were, but I felt like we should have had more control at 11-on-10. But I felt like we were great, especially that spell in the first half.”
O’Neill praised young strikers Kenny and Osmund, along with inspirational captain McGregor. “Johnny scored the goal. Yes, he is a young player who comes into the game. The other player (Callum Osmund) is an interesting character. He has enough confidence so if he learns to play properly as a centre-forward he will be great.”
“He flicks a little bit here and there, but he’s sharp, he wants to go, he scores and he certainly celebrates. If the game had gone to penalties and Rangers had won, I would have done that…before that he missed a great chance, right?”
“Yeah, so maybe he didn’t see tomorrow for himself! You only realize how good McGregor is when he gets down to the business itself. It’s great to scream in the locker room and he can play, he really can play.”
