Who is the board’s “vote of confidence” for? Martin’s sake or their own?

Celtic have given Martin O’Neill the dreaded vote of confidence.

Well, of course they have. What other option is there?

Let me examine this properly, because on the surface it sounds like a simple statement. Celtic are backing their manager, Martin O’Neill remains in charge, and the club expects him to continue his work during the international break.

Fine. But let us consider what sits underneath those words.

If Martin O’Neill is not Celtic manager, then who the hell is?

Neil Lennon again? Steve Clarke? Some other uninspiring name pulled out of the managerial hat? Or, God forbid, another third-rate appointment which leaves Celtic supporters wondering what the board was thinking?

Because this is where Celtic have put themselves, and this is why the dreaded vote of confidence tells me something much bigger about the state of our football club.

Martin O’Neill is not simply some manager Celtic can hire, fire and replace without consequences. Neither is Brendan Rodgers.

These are Celtic legends. They are men who have written their names into the history of this football club, and if Celtic treats managers of that calibre like disposable pieces of shit, why on earth would another high-calibre manager look at Celtic and think: “Yes, that is where I want to go”?

I wouldn’t. Would you?

Because this is no longer simply about Martin O’Neill. It is about the reputation Celtic is creating for itself as an employer, and I believe that is extremely dangerous for us.

Celtic should be a destination for great managers. We are Celtic Football Club. We have a gigantic support, Celtic Park, European nights, history, resources, a worldwide fanbase and an identity most clubs could only dream of possessing.

This should be a job managers dream about.

Yet what message are we sending?

Come to Celtic, win trophies, build something, carry enormous expectations and represent one of the most famous clubs in Europe. Then watch the people above you fail to support you properly, interfere with the structure around you and potentially leave you completely exposed when things start going wrong.

What kind of manager wants that?

Look at Brendan Rodgers. Whatever anyone thinks about him personally, nobody can erase what he achieved at Celtic. He became Celtic manager twice, delivered trophies and gave the supporters European nights to remember.

During his second spell, Celtic reached the knockout stages of the Champions League. The season before last we were competing at that level, looking at European giants and thinking: we can actually do this. We can play at this level.

We were talking about Bayern Munich. We were talking about RB Leipzig. We were talking about Celtic progressing, improving and building on something.

And now? Look at where we are.

Tactically confused, structurally questionable, defensively vulnerable and lacking balance in midfield. A team which can look completely disconnected.

How the hell did we get from there to here? That is the question Celtic supporters should be asking. And now we have Martin O’Neill.

Another Celtic legend. Another manager who has already given this football club memories which will never disappear.

A man who returned when Celtic were in really deep trouble and helped drag the club back towards stability and success. He delivered the league. He delivered the Scottish Cup. He gave Celtic supporters something to believe in again.

And now, after everything that has happened, we are talking about whether Martin O’Neill should remain Celtic manager.

Of course we are. Because Celtic has reached another crisis crossroads.

But suppose O’Neill says enough is enough. Suppose he decides that he cannot work within the conditions created around him.

Then what? Who comes in? And more importantly, why would they come in?

That is the question I want Celtic’s board pricks to answer.

Not me. Not the supporters. The Board.

Why would a genuinely good manager look at the Celtic job today and believe he would receive the backing, structure and respect required to succeed?

A manager cannot do everything. He cannot simultaneously coach the team, recruit the players, construct the football department, repair the club’s internal structure and fight battles with the people above him.

High-calibre managers do not come to clubs looking for a little adventure. They are not attracted to chaos, for God’s sake. They come to build. They come to work. They come to create football teams because the club has a vision and the people running it give them the conditions to implement that vision.

So, if Celtic wants another Brendan Rodgers or another Martin O’Neill, it needs to understand something basic. You cannot attract a high-calibre manager and then give him low-calibre conditions. It does not work.

This is the part which genuinely worries me. Celtic may have made this job radioactive.

And that is tragic.

Celtic should be capable of attracting managers of the highest calibre. Instead, the message from the outside could easily become: be careful with Celtic. Be careful about the Board. Be careful about the structure. Be careful about how much control you actually have. Be careful about what happens when things go wrong.

If that becomes the reputation of Celtic Football Club, then we have a much bigger problem than one manager. We have an institutional problem.

I do not want Celtic to become a club where managers think twice before accepting the job because they fear what happens once they are inside.

I want Celtic to be the club where a manager says: “This is Celtic. This is where I want to work.” But that requires change. Real change.

Not another statement. Not another vote of confidence. Not another manager brought in to put a plaster over a structural wound.

Because if Martin O’Neill goes and Celtic simply replaces him with another manager while keeping everything else exactly the same, what exactly are we expecting to happen?

Different man, same system. Same problems. Same Board. Same football structure. Same frustrations. And then, six months or a year later, we will be sitting here asking why the next manager is not succeeding either.

At some point, you have to look beyond the person standing on the touchline. Celtic needs to create an environment where a manager can actually manage.

If the club wants Brendan Rodgers-level managers, Martin O’Neill-level managers or anyone else of genuine calibre, then Celtic has to make itself attractive to those people not merely because of the badge, the stadium and the support, but because of the football operation behind them. That brings me back to Martin O’Neill.

I do not know what will happen during this international break. I do not know whether Martin O’Neill will remain Celtic manager for much longer or whether his time here will end sooner than anyone expected.

But I know this; you cannot repeatedly bring Celtic legends through the door and then behave as though they are simply disposable employees passing through.

These people are part of Celtic’s history. They have given us memories. They have carried enormous responsibility and stood on that touchline under pressure most people could never understand.

So, if the Board pricks genuinely want another high-calibre manager to come to Celtic Park, perhaps the first question should not be: “Who is available?”

It should be, “Why would the candidates we want even consider coming here?” and beyond that, ask what they have to do to better answer that question. If they don’t do that then the vote of confidence in Martin O’Neill is not a vote of confidence at all. It’s a trap designed to keep him in place to act as the shield against their own bad management.

And what an absolute outrage that would be.

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