Celtic manager Martin O’Neill will meet Dermot Desmond to discuss his future over the coming week after admitting the club should go for a younger coach if their focus is on moving forward with a new, long-term project.
The 74-year-old masterminded a 3-1 Scottish Cup final victory over Dunfermline Athletic at Hampden yesterday thanks to goals from Daizen Maeda, Arne Engels and substitute Kelechi Iheanacho before Josh Cooper snatched a late consolation for the Pars.
Opposite number and former Bhoys captain Neil Lennon stated afterwards that O’Neill should be given the final say on his future and whether he wants to stay at the helm or not for next season.
However, the veteran, while believing he should be under consideration for the post, insists the club must also consider their own blueprint for the future before he meets with major shareholder Desmond to figure out what comes next.
‘I don’t think I’ll ever lose the hunger or the passion for the game,’ he stated. ‘Honestly, I really don’t. When they’re putting a lid on top of me, I think I’ll jump up and say: “What’s the score?” And hopefully Celtic have scored!
‘But if you’re saying we’d start back in a week’s time, I genuinely couldn’t do that. I’ll have to give it a think.
Celtic boss Martin O’Neill with the Scottish Cup but admits his future is uncertain
The Celtic manager shares an embrace with Dunfermline boss Neil Lennon at the full-time whistle
‘I think, in the next week, I’ll meet up with the owner and see what he’s saying. He hasn’t said anything to me, and I don’t know if that’s good news or bad news, but I will genuinely have a wee look at it to see.
‘I’d be thinking, though, that for the football club to go forward properly, then they’d probably looking at somebody younger. If you’re asking me if I’d have a project or something like that, no, I couldn’t do that. I wouldn’t have it.
‘I’ve never believed in a project anyway, to tell you the truth. But I definitely couldn’t do that.
‘This is a nice feeling, but the football club now will need to have a look to see. I know this is the Scottish Cup but Hearts are the story of the season, which is brilliant.
‘That’s the reason there is interest in Scotland but elsewhere in Europe, so the challenge is there. Rangers will get strong, I’m sure, so we’ve got to try and match that. And there’s trying to make some sort of mark in European football. All of those things, I genuinely can’t grasp today.’
Asked about Lennon stating that it should be O’Neill’s call, he replied: ‘I really, genuinely don’t know. I would have thought, in the last few weeks, that they would be looking at options. They have to be because pre-season is coming.
‘The advantage of us winning the league gives us an extra week. Instead of starting back on the 19th, we start back on the 26th. So Shaun (Maloney) was telling me, but it’ll be an interesting conversation, so we’ll see.’
Lennon was clear, though, on how things ought to move forward with his former manager.
‘I think it is his decision, and it should be his decision, whether he wants to stay on or not. Only he can answer that,’ said Lennon.
‘I think the club should let him say what he wants to do. I don’t see many candidates out there who could do what he has done this season.
Kelechi Iheanacho scores the third goal in Celtic’s 3-1 Scottish Cup final win over the Pars
‘If he stays on then great. If he doesn’t, the club should do something for him to recognise what he has brought to the club in these spells.’
Should Desmond offer him the job during discussions, O’Neill joked about the first things he would have to weigh up.
‘I’d need to check my heart monitor, for a start. My blood pressure will probably be up,’ he smiled.
‘It has been been great and the only reason it has been great is because we have been successful. There can be no one in this room my age and you’ve got to consider that.
‘I can pass it off as a joke, but I really don’t know. I think I must be in consideration for the job, even though it might be for a very short term. Even at that, I couldn’t do a project.
‘The point is this… it’s all right saying a year and it sounds great today. I am not sure if we lost three of the first five, I’d be welcome. It doesn’t matter who you are. You have to win football matches.’
Asked if his family would support him committing for the longer term, O’Neill replied: ‘That is a brilliant point. I am really not sure. My daughters would be on for it. I am not sure my wife would.
‘She does some of these art classes, which she loves, and she likes the place down there (in England). I think, deep down, she has enjoyed this, but it is a good point.’
O’Neill had been out of the dugout for six years when Desmond first brought him back in after Brendan Rodgers’ departure last October. When he came back in following the failed Wilfried Nancy experiment in January, he had a real miracle to work.
However, he was keen to ensure last night that concluding a domestic double was about far more than just him.
‘This definitely is not my final. It is Celtic Football Club’s final,’ said O’Neill.
‘I have had a bit-part to play in proceedings. The game has changed a wee bit since I first managed and some of the things we coach I’ve had to learn. I’ve been doing a lot of learning in the last three or four months.
Celtic boss Martin O’Neill clutches the Scottish Cup
Goalscorers Kelechi Iheanacho and Arne Engles celebrate as Celtic won the Scottish Cup
‘You’re on the periphery then suddenly you’re thrown into the middle of it and you get a perverse enjoyment from it when you win things.
‘When we lost at Dundee United it felt winning things was far away. If Junior [Adamu] hadn’t scored a goal in the last seconds against Dundee we wouldn’t be here.
‘I thought these days were gone so it’s so, so pleasing. I can’t remember properly my last spell away back. But because of the circumstances, this is particularly special.’
Celtic, of course, have a Champions League play-off tie to prepare for early next term, but O’Neill does not give the impression that being involved in Europe’s top club competition would be a major part in his thinking if he does get offered a chance to stay.
‘It would have been some time ago,’ he said. ‘Overall, I enjoyed the European experiences (this season), but we got blasted against Midtjylland. Physically ripped apart in the game, although it didn’t surprise me as I’d seen them play Nottingham Forest and they were too strong for them.
‘But it was heavy. Then, we went to Feyenoord and did great and that was nice.
‘European football is what the club should be aspiring to, but I have to admit that is difficult because you are up against clubs that are big spending.’
O’Neill, who insisted that left-back Kieran Tierney is fine after being taken off following an ankle knock, also reserved some special words for Lennon after defeating his youthful Dunfermline side.
‘It shouldn’t be a mutual admiration society, but I love him,’ he said. ‘I know he is a wee fat lump, but I love him. He pulled me out of the quagmire at Leicester City, honestly, and went on to become a big, big player for the next three or four years.
‘I took him to Celtic and he was really fantastic. I don’t think there is anyone better with his career as a player and as a manager. There isn’t.’
