Martin O’Neill explains his scouting mission

Martin O’Neill has explained his decision to attend Monday’s Championship match between Preston and QPR.

After the drama of Celtic’s 2-1 win over Dundee no-one would have begrudged O’Neill putting his feet up on Easter Monday.

Instead he headed down the M74, watching a run of the mill Championship match alongside Mark Fotheringham.

That appearance raised a number of questions beyond who Celtic may be watching.

Could O’Neill be around next season? Could he be manager?

As ever the 74-year-old Irishman gives little away about his movements, plans or intentions.

His Easter Monday appearance added another twist to the strangest of season with The Sun reporting the current Celtic boss saying:

I went because we should still be looking at players.

Also, I know Preston director  Peter  Ridsdale from way back when  Leeds  tried to get me.

Someone I think could be good, the new manager might feel different.

But at least it’s someone you can put on the board and say, ‘We looked at them’.

Who is looking at players and Celtic in general for next season is another mystery.

On January 5 the club lost Wilfried Nancy and Paul Tisdale.

They brought in an interim manager but there is no Head of Football Operations. No Director of Football. CEO Michael Nicholson hasn’t said a word in public since the departures of Nancy and Tisdale.

This summer Celtic are looking at a massive turnover of players.

All of the January arrivals were on loan.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kasper Schmeichel, Kelechi Iheanacho and James Forrest will be out of contract at the end of next month.

Back in December Nancy spent 15 minutes discussing the handover from O’Neill.

That scenario has to be avoided in the summer. A continuing role for O’Neill grows more likely with every passing week of inactivity towards next season.