Tony Watt has claimed that Rangers handled their managerial appointment with ‘a lot more grace’ than Celtic.
After a week of talks with Dermot Desmond in London, Martin O’Neill agreed to remain as Celtic manager on a contract that could take him beyond his 76th birthday.
Despite O’Neill’s excellent impact in interim charge, Desmond also held talks with Robbie Keane, causing widespread backlash from the Parkhead support.
On the other side of the city, Danny Rohl departed Ibrox for Red Bull Salzburg, swiftly being replaced by Derek McInnes.
👀 A reasonable figure?
Tony Watt: Celtic were dilly-dallying in managerial search
Watt said on Clyde Superscoreboard: “In the East End of Glasgow, everybody looks at the other side, don’t they? The kind of blue and green.
“I think they’ve done it a lot quicker, and I think it’s probably been kept under wraps.
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“They would know about McInnes’ buyout clause, they would’ve knew all about it — whereas Celtic, it’s as if they were dilly-dallying.
“The board were getting messages from the fans, saying ‘don’t appoint Keane’, and Martin was probably the right man.
“But the way they went about it… now, I think Rangers will probably be in a good place, recruitment-wise, whereas if they left it another couple of weeks, you wouldn’t know who was signing the players.
“Now they’ve come out and said ‘Manager’, he’ll manage the team. He’ll pick the best team, and I think he’ll have a lot of say in the transfers as well.
“I think Rangers have handled the managerial appointment with a lot more grace than Celtic.
“When Rohl went, they just went straight for McInnes, got the man they wanted and it showed a bit of intent.”
At one point, Keane appeared to be the frontrunner ahead of O’Neill, though this didn’t turn out to be the case.
Never in doubt… 😅 How relieved are we!?
Martin O’Neill’s impact in the 2025-26 season at Celtic
Upon the sudden resignation of Brendan Rodgers, we were also given the news that O’Neill would return to Glasgow after six years away from football management.
Any questions over his age were completely quashed as the Hoops won seven of their eight games under his interim charge… only to make way for the disastrous reign of Wilfried Nancy.
Upon his return, the team’s form picked up again, but a league and cup double looked a long shot.
23 games, 19 wins and just two defeats later… O’Neill delivered a double that nobody foresaw… or wanted, outside of Celtic Park.
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