Yes they’ll have their day in the sun again some day. This is Scotch football
Jimmy bells kitroom is quite funny at times though.
I think this last week & the two results & displays have taken the club out of (complete) crisis mode & stabilised things alright. I guess it means they can be discerning/detailed about the new manager process, knowing the interim team is handling things well & they don’t need to panic or rush an appointment. They might be willing to wait until December or January, for example, if a target has commitments up to then. That said, these past 7 (seven) days show things can change quickly in football & the mood would change back the other way if they come unstuck in Denmark & in the league next weekend. Past experience has also shown new managers aren’t necessarily appointed on the basis of criteria plugged into a football specific recruitment database…it’s usually at the whim of Dermot Desmond but he’s actually made more good managerial decisions than bad over the years, despite the overly prudent financial management.
Getting a result against Midtjylland will be challenging. They are in good form. Hopefully a similar result to when O’Neill’s Celtic beat Ajax away early in his first reign. Distinctly remember the previously disregarded Bobby Petta shining early in that period before falling out of favour.
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Do you hate them more than you hate Yanited?
I don’t know the answer to any of those questions.
I don’t think I would want him to be offered it though. He has definitely exceeded expectations so far but it’s been on the basis of a short term lift. It’s obvious he’s a better motivator than Rodgers (or Rodgers of late anyway) and his more direct style suits our players and the way most teams defend against us. But I don’t know about keeping that energy and enthusiasm up for the rest of the season and the January transfer window makes it even riskier.
Not sure he’d want the role either. I think he’s going to leave on a positive note anyway. I think Thursday’s match is more of a free hit and most fans have low expectations about that one. Beating Kilmarnock on Sunday would be a strong set of results and seems a natural place to end.
Having said all that I saw @Bandage from the much respected TFK Podcast making the very valid point that the upturn in form means we definitely don’t need to rush the appointment if the right candidate isn’t available or identified in time.
He was shit but now he’s betta
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What Celtic should do is the following. Announce an extension to the interim O’Neill period that goes at least up to November 23rd.
Then they can decide another extension to the interim period to take in December 14th. Then you let inevitability take its course.
Football has an essential element of sentiment. If it doesn’t have that it has nothing.
What Martin O’Neill epitomises is the idea of the Super Dad, now Super Grandad persona. The type of manager who and GETS a club and comes in and immediately the supporters of that club are mentally lathered in a warm, soothing balm. The balm of “everything’s going to be fine”, because Super Dad/Super Grandad is minding us, and he knows.
As the song goes, we’ve got Jack to mind us and the fans behind us.
The mental image all Celtic supporters have of Martin O’Neill is of O’Neill intensely staring as Henrik Larsson applies the finishing touch to a ball that the Celtic Park crowd are literally sucking into the net on a BIG European night which is all of October 2001 and March 2003 and March 2004 against Juventus and Liverpool and Barcelona, and O’Neill doing a little run and then a jump into the air with his arms high into the air.
Celtic supporters want Martin O’Neill to remain as Celtic manager for the same reasons they want to attend Oasis concerts in 2025. They cannot forget how this person made them feel.
What Celtic supporters imagine is that Martin O’Neill is an all knowing, otherworldy force.
You have to allow this force proceed.
Martin O’Neill at Celtic is BIGNESS. If ever a club needed BIGNESS, it’s Celtic right now.
But at the same time, given Martin O’Neill’s age and the fact that he is not a tactics guy - he’s a “you go out and play for me and you will be guided by the force” guy, you have to create the impression that this return of the otherworldly force is non-permanent.
You have to create the impression that this force is ephemeral and under threat and is about to depart. That is what makes the force more potent.
Celtic need to proceed in short steps. This is not a time for “stability”. This is a time when you carefully channel the emotion in a particular way to make the emotion the most potent it can be.
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O’Neill has turned into an unbelievably cantankerous fucker in recent years, he always was a bit, but he’s very bad now.
I don’t see how having him there for any period beyond christmas can end well
It’s like ole at United. There’ll be a massive downturn the minute he gets a job full time.
Just not being rodgers is good enough for now.
It can’t be full time. It must be a series of short term extensions until the period of inevitability kicks in in December, the period of inevitability that ends with a 4-1 victory over Rangers that secures a domestic treble on a sun kissed day at Hampden Park in May 2026, when Martin O’Neill walks away into the sunset forever.
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I really like your concept of a permanent interim manager with recurring 3-4 week extensions thus ensuring the short term “bounce” continues indefinitely & players’ remain uninhibited with too much tactical instruction & just go out there & play.
I always want yanited to hammer them if they play.
Id say the only reason MO’N and Shaun Maloney will stay is if DD has a Manager lined up that is contracted until the end of the season.
Only issue then will be the January transfer window. Players required for a league battle with Hearts and Champions League qualification in the summer. Yet again the conundrum of spending with a new manager coming in who will want money.
O’Neill could take Celtic to the Europa League final. A potential last 16 clash with Rangers would be absolutely box office.
Winner of league this season are straight into champs league next season ?no qualifying rounds
No. At least one qualifying round, like this season (Kairat!). Possibly more. I can’t recall when it kicks in but it’ll get back to 3 qualifying rounds soon based on the coefficient.
And no Europa League for second placed in the league unless they win the cup (I think)
Martin O’Neill had a rolling one year contract with Celtic. Perhaps he should now move to a rolling one month or even rolling one week contract.
Celtic should not be led by a technocrat. I read fellas on Celtic forums making ridiculous analogies like saying “it can’t be Christmas all the time, you can’t live on Quality Street, you eventually have to go back and wear non-elasticated trousers.”
I read fellas saying that some Danish fella I’ve never heard of named Knutsen should be the new manager.
I see some fella I’ve never heard of named Schmidt being touted.
Fuck that. FUCK THAT.
The whole world of politics and anything associated with politics now runs on delusions and fantasies.
The one place where delusions and fantasies are utterly appropriate and NEEDED is football, and Celtic Football Club is one of a select few special clubs where delusions and fantasies are not delusions and fantasies, but are in fact the real pragmatism - and where “pragmatism” is the real delusion and fantasy.
The UEFA Cup Final this season is in Istanbul.
Only Catholic or Muslim teams win European trophies in Istanbul.
I’m off to Wikipedia right now to check Celtic’s results in this competition so far. And that is the point. That is why Martin O’Neill should be appointed. On rolling one week contracts.