I don’t know whether Martin O’Neill is going to leave Celtic during this international break, and neither, apparently, does Martin O’Neill himself. That is what makes this whole situation so bloody difficult.
After Celtic’s 1-0 defeat to the Ibrox mob at Celtic Park, O’Neill openly said that he would reflect on the situation, speak to the board and consider whether he can still help the team.
Then, yesterday, came Ronnie Charters saying that, he would put his mortgage on Martin O’Neill not being Celtic manager for the next game.
Now, let us consider this carefully.
Ronnie Charters isn’t Martin O’Neill. He hasn’t announced anything on behalf of Celtic, and there has been no official confirmation that O’Neill is resigning.
But Charters was in that room at the weekend, and his industry still knows more than we do. He saw and heard things that we didn’t experience through a television screen, and if a journalist who knows the Celtic landscape comes away from this with such a strong feeling that O’Neill could walk away, then surely, we have to pay attention.
Maybe something is happening behind the scenes. Maybe something has changed inside Martin O’Neill’s own head. Maybe both. Speirs words were interesting too; in his article of the other day he said he could write what he knows about the situation Martin faced this summer because “the truth will out” anyway … that too suggests something to me.
Charters said that he genuinely believes O’Neill would do anything for Celtic, and for me that is the heart of the whole situation.
Because I don’t question Martin O’Neill’s love for Celtic.
I don’t question his commitment, and I certainly don’t question what last season meant to him when he came back in an SOS situation, lifted the club, won the league and Scottish Cup and restored belief around Celtic Park. But loving Celtic and being capable of fixing Celtic’s current problems are two different things.
Celtic have now suffered three defeats in a row: 3-0 to the Ibrox mob, 3-1 to Ferencvaros and then 1-0 to the Ibrox mob again.
And yet Celtic are still top of the Premiership.
That has to matter too.
This isn’t a team sitting tenth in the table. O’Neill hasn’t completely destroyed the league campaign, and there is still something important here to protect. Which is precisely why the argument that he should leave now carries weight.
If Martin O’Neill walks away while Celtic are still top, after what he achieved last season, then his reputation remains enormously strong.
I can understand that argument. But I can understand the other side as well. What if he stays and uses this international break exactly as it should be used? What if he gets away from the noise, examines what has gone wrong and comes back with a clearer idea of how Celtic should play and what needs to change?
Would I be delighted? Bloody right I would.
Because I don’t want Martin O’Neill to leave Celtic simply for the sake of getting rid of him. I would much rather see him succeed. The question is whether that’s still possible, and if relationships inside the club are poisoned it probably isn’t.
So, underneath all of this sits the question only he can answer. Does Martin O’Neill genuinely believe he can still fix it?
Perhaps that is why his comments after the game mattered so much.
He didn’t say, “Of course I’m staying.”
He said he would reflect. He said he would speak to the board. He said he would consider whether he could still help the team. That is not the language I expected to hear from Martin O’Neill. And perhaps leaving would actually be the brave decision.
That sounds strange because football teaches us to think of staying and fighting as bravery, while leaving is often portrayed as surrender. But that isn’t always true.
Sometimes bravery means recognising that the circumstances around you have changed.
O’Neill could stay. He could fight. He could attempt to turn this around, and if he succeeds then his Celtic legacy becomes even stronger because he refused to walk away when things became difficult. But what if it doesn’t work?
What if the football remains disjointed? What if another defeat arrives? What if the criticism gets louder and the relationship between the manager, the players, the board and the supporters deteriorates further?
Then the man who came back as Celtic’s saviour could eventually become associated with a collapse. Not defeat. Collapse. Which is much worse.
And I absolutely do not want that for Martin O’Neill.
That is the uncomfortable part of this.
I cannot simply tell him to go. I am not sitting in that dressing room. I am not sitting in the boardroom. I wasn’t in that press conference and I don’t know what conversations have already taken place. Most importantly, I don’t know what Martin O’Neill is thinking.
So, I will not pretend that I do.
What I can say is that something feels seriously wrong. When someone like Ronnie Charters, who was actually in the room, comes away believing strongly enough that O’Neill could leave that he would put his mortgage on it, my Ginger Witch senses start tingling.
There is something here. I don’t know exactly what it is, but there is something. A lot of people know more than they’ve said in public. Speirs himself was clearly sitting on a lot of information, and perhaps he still is.
And this is where O’Neill has to be brutally honest with himself.
If he stays, he has to believe he can change things, including the relationships around him. Not hope. Believe.
Because anything else would not be enough. Staying because he doesn’t want to be seen as somebody who walked away would not be enough either. The only good reason to stay is if he believes he can still make this work.
And if he does believe that, then Celtic has to give him every possible chance to prove it. The problems in the team have to be confronted honestly. The relationship between the manager and the people running the football club has to be honest too.
No hiding. No pretending everything is fine. No protecting reputations. Just Celtic.
If O’Neill looks at everything around him and genuinely believes, “I can fix this,” then I will stand behind him. But if he looks at the same situation and honestly concludes, “I cannot help this team anymore,” then I will understand that too.
Because Martin O’Neill has already given Celtic something magnificent.
He gave us hope when we desperately needed it. He gave us trophies. He gave us another chapter in a story we thought had already ended years ago.
I don’t want that chapter ending in bitterness.
So perhaps this isn’t really about whether Martin O’Neill should stay or leave.
Perhaps the real question is much simpler. Can Martin O’Neill still change Celtic from within?
But the doubts on that front are everywhere, and the drumbeat from people who know what they are talking about is loud, and you know what?
If he doesn’t think it can work, if he doesn’t think he’s doing us any good, then leaving may be the last great service he can do for Celtic.
For once, I don’t have a crystal ball. I have only my instincts, and right now they are telling me that this international break may change Celtic Football Club in ways we don’t yet understand. Because something big has happened behind the scenes and something even bigger might be just around the corner.
All we can do now is hope that, whatever decision Martin O’Neill makes, he makes it because he believes it is the right one for Celtic. Others might do well to think about it in the same way.
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