Plenty of Celtic fans will have let out a sigh of relief upon hearing that Martin O’Neill had agreed to stay as permanent manager.
The self-destructive appointment of Robbie Keane was ditched, giving the support one less thing to worry about — but there’s plenty more where that came from.
Many felt that O’Neill had earned the right to be appointed. His domestic record of 29 games, 25 wins, two draws and two defeats in interim charge is remarkable, particularly when compared to those of the other two men to manage Celtic this season.
But can a 74-year-old ‘old-school’ manager lead a rebuild in 2026?
Do you agree with Chris Sutton on Celtic’s impending rebuild?
Martin O’Neill is just one piece of the puzzle in Celtic’s summer rebuild
A seismic rebuild awaits Celtic. This has been clear to the club since long before Dermot Desmond commenced managerial talks this week.
The Hoops dressing room has grown immense respect for O’Neill, but many in it will be gone by the closure of the transfer window.
READ MORE: Andy Walker admits Celtic fan-board ‘strain’ will remain under Martin O’Neill
Funnily enough, it’s not a dissimilar squad situation to that which O’Neill inherited when he first arrived at the club in the summer of 2000, as a 48-year-old.
Shaun Maloney had interviewed for the role of Head of Football Operations, previously held by Paul Tisdale. He now looks to be remaining in the dugout as assistant manager instead.
The damaging impact of Tisdale, both in terms of transfers and managerial influence, emphasises the importance of whoever is brought in, should the role now be occupied at all.
Recruitment concerns are nothing new to the Celtic support. As was evidenced by Desmond’s half-hearted manager search, the club’s operations are far from best-in-class.
When it comes to replacing key players such as Daizen Maeda, Arne Engels and Reo Hatate, the margin for error is extremely small, as we have discovered over Celtic’s last few transfer windows.
Goals have left the team without being replaced. Project players and agent gambles left Celtic with an absurdly bloated squad, of which an embarrassingly high percentage of players were binned off by O’Neill.
This simply can’t continue.
Put Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola in the dugout, it doesn’t matter — O’Neill has proved himself, and all eyes are on the Parkhead board. The unifying presence of a club icon can only shield them so much.
Martin O’Neill STAYS! Thoughts on the decision?
Celtic need a tactical reset
Then there’s the uncomfortable conversations about the team’s level of performance.
Proponents of underlying stats will point to some less-than-encouraging numbers behind the team’s performances under O’Neill this season, and the eye test didn’t disagree: the team struggled to dominate games.
Celtic need to be taken in a different tactical direction this season. With the help of Maloney, this is completely possible, but they simply cannot afford to hope for more of the same.
Only with a team of talented, hungry players with a clear, dominant style of football can Celtic put the traumatic moments of last season behind them.
O’Neill will recognise this, but a lot of us have our doubts over whether those upstairs will act accordingly.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
