GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - JANUARY 28: Celtic Manager Martin O'Neill during a Celtic MD-1 press conference at the Lennoxtown Training Centre, on January 28, 2026, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Martin O’Neill has admitted that he will be speaking to the Celtic board.
The hoops manager brought up the issue after watching Celtic lose their third important match in eight days.
Without prompting O’Neill brought up the matter of self refection.
Last season O’Neill twice came in as interim manager, picking up from Brendan Rodgers and Wilfried Nancy.
This time around he is the permanent manager. Given a pre-season to prepare and transfer window to shape the squad and team towards his thinking.
Celtic signed 10 players across the transfer window, six of them in the 36 hours before the UEFA transfer window closed. Only one of those signings made it onto the pitch.
Camilo Duran and Mika Baur, signed earlier in the transfer window started with Kasper Hogh and Haissem Hassan coming off the bench.
Today ended a 13 match winning run in the SPFL Premiership. It arrived with a thud with no silver lining.
4 minutes
MARTIN O’NEILL POST MATCH MEDIA CONFERENCE
I’m not immune from criticism. Far from it. Absolutely. They [fans] have every reason to ask, can you turn this round? Can you change the whole thing? It’s not the first time I’ve been questioned about my managerial time. So, I’ll have a look at it. I will reflect and see.
Asking what I, myself, [can do], is the main thing. Asking what I can do to help the team. That would be the most important thing for me to see. I genuinely will reflect and see. It’s a matter of whether I can help the team. If that’s the case.
The manager’s supposed to be able to do that. And, yeah, I will have a look at that there this week. That every single time that something crops up, things don’t go so well, age plays a part. And you know what? They may well be right, you know?
I’m 110 in two years’ time, so, yeah, that might be a time to wrap it up. Listen, we’ve lost some big games. There’s no question about it. I personally think every game here is big. We lost a European game. We lost the big match out in LASK. And, here, two defeats against us. Of course you have to question it.
I will reflect on the games. I’ll obviously speak to the board. And, you never know, they may want to speak to me but I’ll see. I’ve got some time to do that there. I will try and get a couple of days away and see how it goes.
An international break is often used by clubs to force through changes in management.
This time there is a 21 day break before Celtic are next in action. Starting at Motherwell they follow that with a trip to Benfica before hosting Hearts in the SPFL Premiership.
That is a daunting schedule with the match in Lisbon laced with danger.
If Celtic are to make changes they must move fast.
Most of today’s squad will be away on international duty, returning around October 8.
Any change in management deserves the maximum time to get to work on finding a working and winning formula from the current squad.
The previous change in management resulted in the appointment of Wilfried Nancy after finishing seventh in the Eastern Conference of the MLS.
That level of judgement is one of the factors causing Celtic fans concern.
