MOTHERWELL, SCOTLAND - NOVEMBER 25: (L-R) Celtic Coaches Mark Fotheringham, Stephen McManus, Interim Coach Shaun Maloney and Interim Manager Martin O'Neill during a William Hill Premiership match between Motherwell and Hibernian at Fir Park, on November 25, 2025, in Motherwell, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Foy/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Martin O’Neill attended the Preston v QPR match yesterday, a fairly surprising development.
In normal circumstances an in-work manager attending another match is the most routine of occurrences.
Celtic, season 25/26 is far from normal.
Almost every week fresh drama is thrown up. As the Kasper Schmeichel controversy died down it was replaced by the latest injury to Alistair Johnston.
After the stress of Dundee on Sunday it would be perfectly natural for a 74-year-old to enjoy a day off. Most of Scotland did on Easter Monday.
Rather than do that O’Neill is reported to have been at the Preston v QPR match.
?? Celtic’s interim manager Martin O’Neill attended Preston North End vs Queen’s Park Rangers, with Lewis Dobbin and Alfie Devine mentioned as potential targets.https://t.co/CHvKYS7U9E#AVFC #CelticFC #PremierLeague #ScottishPremiership
— TransferFeed (@transferfeedcom) April 6, 2026
Strangely there are no pictures of the Celtic boss at the match. Normally media agencies or some fans would have pictures uploaded to social media. The Lancashire Post broke the story.
O’Neill appears to have been accompanied by Mark Fotheringham. It seems that Fozzy is by O’Neill’s side whenever he goes to a match.
But why was the Interim Celtic manager travelling 200 miles south to watch a match in the English Championship?
THE FUTURE ROLE OF O’NEILL AT CELTIC
When you think about it the only logical conclusion is that O’Neill will be involved next season at Celtic.
Any other reasoning is too contrived.
The visit to Preston came a few days after O’Neill had brought up the prospect of retaining an on-going role at Celtic.
As we know Celtic like easy solutions.
If O’Neill is staying on he will have a massive influence over Celtic. There is no escaping that.
He won’t be able to take a background role. And if things don’t go well for the new manager there is an easy solution already at the club. And Celtic do like easy solutions.
Managing a club with Michael Nicholson as CEO and Dermot Desmond as decision maker isn’t the most attractive option.
If O’Neill retains a role at Celtic the managerial options will shrink further.
At some stage this month Celtic are expected to launch their Season Ticket Renewal campaign.
Clearly Nicholson or Brian Unity Wilson won’t be sharing their charm to 54,000 fans.
O’Neill could do that job. With every passing week it is looking more and more likely that Celtic will take their favourite option. The easy one.
We all know that “world class in everything we do” is just a nonsense.
Parochial, insular, sentimental, convenient, lazy, predictable – and cheap –
in everything the Board does is a bit more long-winded,
but undoubtedly more honest ! 🙁
Here’s my take on it…The Board has already agreed a deal with the new Manager…and it’s NOT MoN…The new guy, however, has agreed that he will look at video footage of any player recommended by MoN…and give his verdict…Thereby ensuring a seamless change over…Oh and this post has been approved by Hans Christian Anderson…Hail hail.
Joe I’m very grateful to MO’N what he has accomplished at Celtic and thank him for coming out of retirement to steady the ship but surely he’s not the answer long term, what we need is a total clean out at board level and a modern thinking manager who will be backed in his rebuild, but some how i think unfortunately there could be some truth in your article concerning Martin staying and having some say over team affairs and i really do have a sick feeling that we’ll have same board next season ( God forbid) and looks like groundhog day
32 United, I have the same sick feeling. Taking it further O’Neill as Director of Football, Shaun Maloney and Fotheringham as Head Coach and Deputy Head Coach and no change at board level.