This will go down as one of the craziest seasons in Celtic’s history.
Hopefully, Martin O’Neill can guide Celtic to the Premiership title at the end of it all, because it would just make everything even better.
But it still won’t hide some of the calls that have been made by the higher-ups at Parkhead this season.
The Celtic Park faithful have made their feelings clear about it, but even those from the outside are recognising the mess of this campaign, as the Hoops continue to win under O’Neill.
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Celtic slammed for Wilfried Nancy and Paul Tisdale appointments
Given how much things have changed under O’Neill, talkSPORT were discussing Celtic’s call to appoint Wilfried Nancy in the first place.
Remember, O’Neill had changed the team’s fortunes around in his first spell, yet the board still pushed for Nancy and brought him in from Columbus Crew.
Alex Crook claimed that call was ‘the most stupid decision in football’, as he also verbally slammed Paul Tisdale for what he did in his career before being appointed by Celtic.
The talkSPORT presenter added how Celtic would be top of the table and they would have won the League Cup had O’Neill just stayed on.
“I think a lot of the younger managers think if they ask an older head for help, then maybe it’s a sign of weakness,” claimed Crook.
“Actually, as a mentor, people like Martin O’Neill and Steve Bruce can do a lot of good for those young managers. I have got to say, hiring the manager of Columbus Crew might go down as the most stupid decision in football.
“You look at the league table, if they had just stuck with Martin O’Neill, I would argue that they would be top of the table. They would have won the League Cup. I don’t know what the hierarchy was thinking when they made that appointment.
“What you are also seeing now is that too many owners are taking advice from people who really aren’t in a position to give it.
“You look at Celtic, they hired Paul Tisdale as the sort of director of football. He did a really good job as Exeter manager. You look at the rest of his managerial career. Lasted less than a year at MK Dons, the same at Bristol Rovers and the same at Stevenage. Why on earth would you let him pick the next Celtic manager?”
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Gabby Agbonlahor on working under Martin O’Neill
Put aside tactics, just from a man-management side of things, O’Neill has blown away the dark clouds from above Parkhead and brought in the sunshine.
One man who has witnessed O’Neill’s magic up close and personal is Gabby Agbonlahor, and he lauded his former Aston Villa manager’s quality.
“Martin was harsh to certain positions on the football pitch,” said Agbonlahor. “The fullbacks, if you never stopped the cross. Martin would go crazy if you didn’t stop the cross.
“What I could imagine is all of those Celtic players would have been so angry at a new manager coming in. Totally different. Martin just gets it. He gets the players’ mentality. He gets what players want. He won’t complicate his tactics or set-pieces.
“Martin O’Neill is a manager. He isn’t a coach. When we were at Aston Villa, John Robertson, rest in peace, and Steve Walford, they were the coaches.
“Now at Celtic, it will be Shaun Maloney, young, fresh and has those ideas of coaching. Martin O’Neill is the manager who just restored order.”
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