Martin O’Neill may not want to leave Celtic. He may not feel that stepping down is something he is obliged to do. But his options have narrowed to the point where there are really only two left.
He can go now, with the minimum of fuss, pain and damage to himself and to the club. Or he can try to ride this out and leave later, with any number of people convinced that he gambled recklessly with the future of the season.
If O’Neill wanted time to reflect, he did not have to announce publicly that he was taking it. He could simply have said after the game that he was disappointed, acknowledged that his position was under scrutiny and left it there.
But Martin talks too much for his own good sometimes.
I wrote yesterday about his comments at the start of the season, when he made it clear that he was not going to stay beyond this campaign. I said then that those remarks had weakened him, and they had.
But not half as much as what he said the other day.
Last night’s podcast was called No Easy Way Out. That was a reference to O’Neill, to Celtic and to the position this club has managed to dig for itself. There is no easy route from where we are, but Celtic still has to find one.
For Martin, leaving would be difficult. Between him and the club, they would have to find a way to dress it up with some dignity, but there would be a lot of sympathy for him, both publicly and privately.
He has been dealt a shitty hand and everyone knows it. He is 74, as he keeps reminding us, and he has repeatedly talked about his own health, energy and ability to continue.
People would understand if he went now.
Where it gets much more difficult for him is if he decides to stay.
Because I no longer believe that is a viable option.
Staying only increases the likelihood that the end becomes ugly, painful and undignified, and it should not be like that. It does not have to be like that.
If O’Neill is being honest with himself, he must know how difficult this is to turn around. He will also know what the atmosphere is like inside the club. We have all heard the rumours and stories about players being unhappy with what they are being asked to do, how they are training and how the team is being set up.
Some of that has already leaked into the public square.
None of those problems disappears during this international break.
They will still be waiting for him at the end of these three weeks, along with a fixture list which would put serious strain on a manager in far healthier circumstances.
Even a newly appointed Celtic manager coming into those games with time and goodwill would be under pressure.
O’Neill would be going into them having repeatedly highlighted his own age, his fragility and now his uncertainty over whether he even wants to continue. He may think some of that is self-deprecating humour. He may believe he is merely being honest.
But perception matters.
If enough people begin to believe that Celtic has a 74-year-old manager who is tired, uncertain and wondering whether he still wants to be there, then that perception becomes part of the reality surrounding the team.
And that uncertainty does not stop at the manager’s office door.
It transmits itself to the players.
I am not giving them a free pass. I will have more to say about them separately. But O’Neill has to deal with the reality of where his position is now.
And the reality is that it has become untenable.
For me, it became untenable after LASK.
There are clubs which would have sacked a manager for that performance alone. It fundamentally altered how a lot of supporters viewed this coaching team because it was such an incomprehensible collapse.
Everything we have seen since against serious opposition has only hardened the belief that Linz was not some freak event. It was a symptom.
A symptom of serious underlying problems with how this team is being coached.
To all intents and purposes, this is over.
What remains is how O’Neill chooses to leave.
He can go with Celtic still at the top of the table, with the club having an international break in which to appoint somebody else and give that person time to work. He can leave knowing that, whatever else has gone wrong, he has given Celtic the best possible chance to protect what remains of this season.
Or he can come back and walk into that run of fixtures. Then even one defeat will pile the pressure straight back onto him.
And I do not believe it will be one defeat.
I can very easily see circumstances in which Celtic fails to win several of those games. At that point, the league lead could be gone, momentum would be firmly with the other side and whatever control O’Neill still has over the manner of his departure would disappear with it.
Then, when the board finally pulls the trigger, it will be on their terms, not his.
I am not convinced O’Neill fully understands how serious his comments have made this situation. I was aghast listening to him.
And I do not want to listen to much more of it. It is painful.
The worst thing for him is that once supporters cross a certain psychological line, the process changes. They stop evaluating the evidence and then reaching a conclusion. They reach the conclusion first and begin looking for evidence which confirms it.
I think we are already there. There will not be another clean slate. There will not be another honeymoon. Even the decision to appoint him at the beginning of this season is now being reassessed by people who initially supported it.
That is how far the mood has shifted.
When this international break ends, someone else has to be sitting in the Celtic manager’s chair. It really is that simple.
It does not matter whether that is fair. It does not matter that Martin O’Neill is a good man. We all know he is a good man. But this situation now has a terrible momentum of its own, and I do not believe it can be halted.
For Celtic, there is no easy way out.
For Martin O’Neill, there is simply no way back.
That is not an easy sentence to write.
But it happens to be true.
Choose The CelticBlog as a ‘Preferred Source’ on Google News for quick access to the news you value.
Very similar to the Lennon situation who should have left early enough for TIAR to be saved. Had he walked when he should have then I and many others wouldn’t view him as the media ante-Celtic clown that he as become who is only around to troll the supporters. His opinion means nothing and MON could cross the line where he would find himself viewed the same way.
There is the rumour that MON took the job because of the need for money due to a change in his circumstances and this could pose a problem and his reluctance to fall on his sword could be a result of this.
Rodgers coming back with DD to sell? Willie haughy it seems.
Cant see it, madness, the money in uae is ridiculous.
That said he is in no need of the luchre
Tatalising is it not
Someone has jumped the shark — the fridge magnet is now in the building.
Plus Rodgers in the mix as well — if that is the case then their will be a small implosion in G74.
If an offer is made for DD’s shares then that means all the shares need to be included?
30% and over is a full takeover offer ordinarily.
.
Not sure if this applies to AIM or our engagement with AIM.
2005 emergency rights issue and we got a concession from AIM for DD to end up with 35%’ish of the shares which was against the 30% rule. Not sure if this concession would extend to DD selling them as a single block?
.
Other alternatives — DD only sells 30% to the Fridge Magnet and he works with the other large shareholders to re-organise the board with new blood and some talent / ambition / growth minerals.
.
Where would the spare 5% go — a property guy who dabbles in football perhaps?
.
Instant salvation — we get in a new management team.
Long term salvation — we get rid of the Irish Raj and his obtuseness vibe.
MON should go for his own benefit, but what a new manager can do with that squad until January won’t be much better. The squad is very weak which is all down to the board which you wrote about all summer but now you seem to be shifting the blame a fair degree to Martin who should never been there in the first place. This is all on the board, I wish fans stopped criticising Martin who has been royally shafted by this board the same way Rodgers allowed himself to be shafted twice. He only gave it a go at that stage of life due to his love of the club. No respect is evident in his criticism.