‘This is easy’ – Martin O’Neill starting to get the hang of managing Celtic again
Martin O’Neill will be finding his interim manager role at Celtic “easy” and is set to get more time at the club.
O’Neill has taken over at Parkhead on a temporary basis following Brendan Rodgers’ dramatic resignation last month.
The 73-year-old led the Glasgow giants to a comfortable 4-0 win over Falkirk in the Scottish Premiership in his first game at the helm.
Then last weekend (2 November), Celtic beat rivals Rangers 3-1 in a dramatic League Cup semi-final.
Martin O’Neill will get time at Celtic
Aberdeen’s former chief Keith Wyness – who served as CEO at Pittodrie between 2000 and 2004, had lengthy spells as the chief of Everton and Aston Villa and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes that O’Neill will be finding the Celtic interim job “easy” after success in the Old Firm Derby.
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, Wyness insisted that the Northern Irishman will get more time in the position, as there is no obvious successor for the Hoops.
The likes of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Robbie Keane, and Kieran McKenna have all been linked with Celtic, but a permanent manager is yet to be found.
However, Wyness added that O’Neill still won’t want to take the job full-time.
He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “Martin O’Neill, I don’t think he’ll want to take it full-time, to be honest. I think he’d love to go out with a cup final. Why wouldn’t he? I think that would be great.
“Dermot Desmond is lucky that he’s got Martin O’Neill to have turned to here because there isn’t an obvious successor and there isn’t a clear route. He’s bought some time, and particularly winning the Old Firm game has bought them some time to look around and get this right.
“I mean the cast of characters we’re talking about contains Kieran McKenna and I don’t know if he’s really the right one to come from Ipswich.
“The rest of the names on the list, Robbie Keane, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. There’s nothing really inspiring in terms of potential candidates, so I think Martin is actually getting some time, even though perhaps he didn’t want it.
“But now he’s probably enjoying it. I’m sure after an Old Firm victory, he’s starting to feel young again and he’s starting to think this is easy.”
Craig Bellamy’s Celtic chances revealed
Meanwhile, Celtic will reportedly steer away from appointing Craig Bellamy as their new permanent manager.
That is according to former Man United and Blackburn chief scout Mick Brown, who claims that the Wales boss’s lack of experience at club level makes his appointment unlikely.
The 46-year-old has been one of many linked with the Celtic job following Rodgers’ resignation.
As things stand, Bellamy is focused on managing Wales and plans to guide his country through their final World Cup qualifying games in November.
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