Stiliyan Petrov believes it would be a mistake for Celtic to remove Martin O’Neill from his position as Celtic manager but believes that his old club are in desperate need of a Director of Football to be appointed…
Petrov played under Martin O’Neill at both Celtic and Aston Villa and feels that his old gaffer needs additional support when it comes to transfer dealing, with the late rush of signings arriving at the end of the window for the second time this year.
In January Martin O’Neill was talking openly about imminent signing with specific players being name-checked yet in the Celtic PLC Financial Results released this week the Interim Chairman Brian Wilson admitted that the club deliberately recruited loan signings in January for flexibility reasons. You have to ask why they never informed the manager about this strategy ahead of his media conferences when he was bound to be asked about transfer activity.
Petrov has concerns about the nature of Celtic’s transfer business and fears that it is unlikely to build a successful side as things are current run. Speaking on talkSPORT the former Bulgarian international midfielder reckons that Celtic should be helping Martin rather than considering replacing him after the punishing last three matches all of which were lost.
“This would be the wrong time to sack Martin or let him go, because it’s a difficult time of the season,” Stan said. “Just add somebody who can help him. A director of football, a head of recruitment, somebody who can help build the right team.
“In this transfer window Celtic missed a trick to add the right players. If you look at the timing of signing players, six in the last 48 hours — this is wrong. You don’t build winning teams like that.”
Petrov knows that Martin O’Neill is somewhat protected both by what he achieved at the club during his own time playing for Celtic and also for his remarkable title win with a Scottish Cup triumph on top last season.
“It’s a difficult time for Celtic, but it’s not like they haven’t been there before,” Petrov said. “Is Martin O’Neill protected? He is, because he has done so much for the club. Even last season Martin worked wonders.”
In both transfer windows this year the Celtic Board – for financial reasons – failed to back the manager and Martin O’Neill was left frustrated on both occasions. In January we was also made to look rather silly, something that has resurfaced after Brian Wilson’s revelations this week about Celtic’s January window plan to work with loan signings only.
Martin was also left without the number six he craved to replace the outgoing Arne Engels who joined West Ham United in a deal initially worth £22m with further add-ons available. That fee was essentially wiped out just a few days later as Celtic threw away a 4-0 aggregate lead in Linz against Austrian champions LASK who exploited Celtic’s weakness in the middle of the park.
That was noted and exploited by Derek McInnes at the Rangers in the Premier Sports Cup at Ibrox and the Scottish Premiership at Celtic Park and in between the Ferencvaros boss Balázs Borbély also enjoyed the rich pickings on offer from a weakened and vulnerable Celtic side.
Whether Martin O’Neill has the energy and also the motivation to remain at the club is something we should find out shortly. Celtic won’t sack him but he would have many good reasons to decide himself that he has done all he can and leave the midfield mess to someone else to sort out.
You never know, he might even get promised a loan signing midfielder in January…
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