Martin O’Neill gives his honest thoughts on Wilfried Nancy’s first win as Celtic boss vs Aberdeen

Add as preferred source on Google

That was deserved for Wilfried Nancy and Celtic.

After Martin O’Neill’s uplifting interim spell in charge of Celtic, Nancy entered a nightmare in Glasgow, only his biggest enemy would conjure up.

Those four defeats on the bounce were brutal, but Celtic’s 3-1 win over ten-man Aberdeen on Sunday has got the ball rolling, and the man in the dugout will be breathing a sigh of relief.

And there is nobody happier for him than O’Neill.

• READ MORE: How Celtic’s 2025/26 league position compares to the 2024/25 season this time last year

GET IN THERE! Let us know your MOTM in the comments below

Comment

Like or Comment

Have your say Sign-in now for free

Martin O’Neill reacts to Wilfried Nancy’s first win for Celtic against Aberdeen

The morning after Celtic’s League Cup final defeat to St Mirren, O’Neill was on talkSPORT talking about the doom and gloom of that defeat; it wasn’t pleasant.

Thankfully, on Monday morning on talkSPORT, O’Neill could express his delight at Nancy picking up three points against Aberdeen, including how it was ‘deserved’ for the Scottish champions.

“Big win,” said O’Neill. “Big, big win. Really important. When you aren’t winning football matches, it doesn’t matter what club you are at; the pressure mounts on you.

“And this was an enormous win, to get a couple of late goals as well. They deserved to win the game. But Aberdeen, with ten men, that would have been, if they had held on for a draw, it would have been pretty poor news.

“But they deserved to win, and they got the late goals, and well done to them.”

How O’Neill felt about being handed a chance to manage again by Celtic

It was surreal to have O’Neill back in the Celtic dugout in 2025. Not only were the supporters in shock that he was back, but so was the man himself.

Perhaps Celtic should have been wise to keep him on beyond the League Cup final, but that’s a mistake the powers that be made, as O’Neill enjoyed wearing the famous green and white colours again.

On whether he could believe going back to Celtic happened: “No, not really,” O’Neill admitted. “It was just a brilliant, brilliant period.

“Never thinking for one minute I would get the chance to manage again, never thinking I would get an opportunity to manage Celtic again. It was nice whilst it lasted.”