If Martin O’Neill decides during this international break that he has had enough, there is one thing Celtic absolutely cannot allow to happen.
The people above him cannot simply watch him walk out of the door and then pretend the problem has gone with him.
That is the thought I cannot get out of my head after reading Graham Spiers’ latest reporting on O’Neill’s future.
Let me be clear from the beginning: I do not know whether Martin O’Neill will resign. Nobody outside Martin himself and the people closest to him can know that.
But Spiers has suggested that O’Neill will use this break to seriously consider whether he still wants the job after an absolutely dreadful week for the Boys in green and white.
And honestly? I can understand why he would need to think.
Celtic have lost three games in succession. Yesterday’s 1-0 defeat to the Ibrox mob was not simply another bad result. The performance again looked confused, disconnected and without answers.
But there is another question supporters need to ask.
If Martin O’Neill decides he has had enough, what happens to the people above him? Because if Spiers’ reporting about his frustrations is accurate, this cannot become another simple story about a manager who failed to get his team playing.
It is also a story about whether Celtic properly supported him.
Spiers has rightly stated that O’Neill publicly defended the club’s recruitment while privately despairing over it. We know he has now spoken openly about Arne Engels leaving without being adequately replaced before the Champions League qualifiers.
There are also claims that the club wrangled over money involving members of his coaching staff before the season had properly begun. Those claims are almost certainly accurate and I can understand why O’Neill might feel badly let down.
What exactly do Celtic expect from a manager?
Do they expect him to take responsibility for results, tactics, performances and everything happening inside the dressing room while the people responsible for constructing the environment around him stand safely behind him?
It’s cowardly. That cannot continue forever.
None of this excuses O’Neill for the football we are watching.
The team looks tactically confused. The performances have been dreadful. The manager has made decisions which deserve criticism, and he has to carry responsibility for them. But responsibility does not stop at the dugout.
That is where my Ginger Witch senses start tingling.
O’Neill returned to Celtic last season when the club was in crisis and helped deliver a league and Scottish Cup double. He walked into the fire.
So Celtic supporters are perfectly entitled to ask whether the club gave him everything he needed when he agreed to continue.
Did they give him the squad? Did they deliver his priority targets? Did they build the coaching structure quickly enough? Did they replace important players properly?
Were everybody’s responsibilities clear?
If the answer to those questions is no – and we all know full well the answers to those questions are no – then O’Neill cannot be the only person facing consequences.
And this is where I would become absolutely furious if he resigned and the directors simply carried on as though nothing had happened.
No. If the manager concludes that he cannot continue, especially if frustration with the people above him forms any part of that decision, then those people have questions to answer too, and as this is not an isolated case of a manager feeling unsupported and perhaps even betrayed, things cannot simply carry on as before.
Who wanted which players? Which deals failed and why? Who decided the squad was strong enough? Who decided that certain positions did not require strengthening? Who controlled the budget? Who backed the manager?
And perhaps most importantly, who didn’t?
I refuse to accept a Celtic where the manager becomes the public face of every failure while the people making major decisions above him remain safely invisible, hiding, like scared little men, behind locked doors, kept away from the media and hard questions.
O’Neill spoke yesterday about self-reflection. He questioned whether he had done enough for the team. Whatever anybody thinks about his performance as manager, I respect that.
He is looking at himself. He is asking difficult questions. Good.
Now I want everybody else at Celtic to do exactly the same thing.
Have you done enough for Martin O’Neill? Have you done enough for Celtic? Did you give him what he needed? Did you construct the football operation properly? Did you make good decisions? And if the answers make you uncomfortable, then fucking face them.
Because Celtic cannot keep changing managers while pretending every structural problem disappears with the man who leaves.
Maybe Martin spends some time with Geraldine, clears his head and decides that he wants another fight. Maybe he looks at Motherwell, Benfica and Hearts and thinks: bring it on. Maybe the old Martin O’Neill fire comes roaring back.
I would love that. But I can’t imagine it. I have to conclude that it’s over. If he also reaches that conclusion, Celtic cannot learn the wrong lessons from it. They cannot decide that everything which has gone wrong belongs to one 74-year-old man and that everybody else gets to reset the clock.
Martin O’Neill might still write another successful chapter at Celtic. But if he decides to close the book and walk away, the directors cannot quietly turn the page and pretend the story was only about him.
If Martin goes, some of those upstairs ought to go with him. Nobody can remain at this club who thinks their failure can be hidden behind the man standing on the touchline.
Martin O’Neill is apparently prepared to ask whether he has failed Celtic. The people above him should be asking whether they failed Martin O’Neill.
And if they did, they should not imagine for one second that his resignation absolves them of that despicable act of self-preservation at this man’s expense.
Whatever the ending here for Martin, he has given this club more than any of them ever could, and it would be abhorrent if he had to leave and they got to continue squatting in those offices as though they belonged there.
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There is no chance of that happening. They have been using him all along – using him to avoid paying money to bring in a new management team, to avoid successsion planning and to avoid spending more than they take in on transfers. O’Neill has some honour and may walk. Those above him haven’t an ounce of honour between them and take far more out of the club than they have ever put in and will continue to unless forcibly removed – like rotten teeth.
Celtic are in the worst situation with a board who refuses to let the club be all it can be. It really looks like an inside job to keep the SPFL competitive. I am not a conspiracy theorist in any way, it is just that this board makes me think this way as there doesn’t seem to be any explanation on why they keep holding our club back. They refuse to let us progress. Nicholson never speaks as he knows he could not start to defend the clubs operating model. If this board won’t budge, we will need ST holders to make massive sacrifices next year.
Paulina, I like reading your blogs. You come over as sensible and sometimes witty. But I’m afraid on this occasion you’ve came across as slightly deranged…I say this in jest if course, but can you honestly, in your ginger witch heart of hearts, see any board members follow O’Neil out the door and do the honourable thing for the club? There’s not a fkn hope in hell….in my opinion. These men are parasites. They take, take, take from our club and give nothing back .BR had his faults, of course he did, but look at the cowardly way they treated him. The assisinated his character, even after he’d gone.theywoukdnt know the meaning of the word honour.
They’ve promised O’Neill everything, and delivered nothing near to that promise. This is a man who took the club by the scruff of its neck and took us all on that wonderful 5 year journey of fast attacking football. Culminating in Seville. I’m not bringing his age into anything…at 66 I’m still playing 5s &7 a-side football, but he does look tired and deflated. This man knows a player. He’s been in the game all his life . The players the board have got him are not Celtic standard ..Duran being the obvious exception. He’s been con ed by his “friend” DD in a way that he probably never thought possible.
If he goes, he goes with every supporters best wishes ….. regarding your hopes that a board member or 2 will follow him out the door…..FFS don’t make me laugh
This will continue as long as Desmond owns the club, as long as there is a 15k waiting list for season tickets, he has all the power.
Desmond reminds me of Keith Leger’s batman, some men just like to watch the world burn – & the reality that millions of Celtic supporters think he’s a wank stain, when he’s spent his life surrounded by sycophants is unusually painful for his fragile ego, so he’s gonna teach us plebs a lesson in deference & respect, even if he needs to destroy Celtic to do it, cos let’s face it, he can afford to do it, so why not, his fragile ego & limp dick energy must be seen to triumph in the end…..
All of us, apart from those that continue to be board apologists, are fully aware that these charlatans are cowards!!!
They are appalling and they’ve now hung another legend out to dry !
People can criticise MON all they want, but like BR & previous managers, DD has certainly promised him heaven whilst delivering hell.
None of them will walk or be removed unless they get a price that is attractive enough for them to sell up and go !
I’m certainly no expert and there are far greater minds than mine that know the workings of our board and their respective shareholdings.
However, is this DD’s plan?
Keep millions in the bank, that ensures a huge share price and sell at optimum?
If that’s the case, please sell soon Mr D, as you and your cohorts have achieved the unthinkable to us the fans but probably your plan all along !!!
Keeping Sevco relevant and ensuring we would never get too far ahead of them regardless of their basket case status!
Our current mess falls upon you and your hapless lapdogs!
Shame on you that you care so little for those caught up as collateral damage !
You’ve never really cared for the fans but at least we’ve realised they for long enough…most of the managers you appoint seem to fall for your bs, before reality sets in !!!
Keep praying for a positive change folks ! HH