Martin O’Neill took time to speak to Premier Sports yesterday before Celtic’s 1-1 draw with Shelbourne at Tolka Park in Dublin, and confessed that he is hoping pre-season gives him crucial time to implement ideas with this Celtic team…
The manager was brought back to Parkhead for a second permanent spell after winning a Scottish Premiership and Scottish Cup Double last time out as interim boss.
Over two temporary stints back in the dugout at Celtic Park, O’Neill recaptured that form of old, sweeping aside our domestic rivals with a charm and swagger that had been sorely missed for some time.
Now back in the saddle again full-time, the man who is set to be honoured in his hometown of Kilrea soon for services to football and sport, is eager to get on the training field with his players and try and get crucial ideas about the game across.
After several decades in the world of football, it would be safe to assume O’Neill knows a thing or two about winning and he even has the medal haul to prove it.
Last term, with things being what they were, Martin’s task was to stem the bleeding – or haemorrhage by that point when he replaced Wilfred Nancy – and try to get back into the title race.
The 74-year-old silver fox did that with aplomb and set about rapidly regaining vital ground that had been lost under the hapless Frenchman and his stewardship, after O’Neill had put the team in such a strong position before his hasty departure pre-Christmas.
With that in the rear view now though, the Irishman is really looking forward to implementing his ideas with the Bhoys over the course of the next few weeks, in what will be a welcome change to proceedings. “The whole idea of the pre-season from my point of view, is to try and implement ideas that you wouldn’t have had time to do before,” he admitted to Premier Sports. “It was a rush both times.”
O’Neill even confessed he would have liked more time to celebrate last season’s dramatic title win, however, he noted that time waits for no man in this game of football.
“So we’re leaving tomorrow for a few days in Portugal and we’ve got a couple of pre-season friendly matches at Celtic Park, so really looking forward to it,” Martin said.
“It comes upon you so quickly, I don’t really think we’ve had much time to enjoy the end of last season. It’s here again,” a bewildered O’Neill added.
🍀 Celtic manager Martin O’Neill discusses the importance of the Irish connection for the club, how he’s hoping his side will benefit from pre-season, and transfer updates
“The young lad Durán, who hopefully will be doing a medical tomorrow and joining us in Portugal” 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/WXlSIznU70
— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) July 7, 2026
Paul Gillespie
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