Martin O’Neill will use the international break to reflect on his Celtic future after a difficult run of results, with the 74-year-old accepting there is every reason to question whether he can turn the situation around.
The pressure has grown after back-to-back defeats by Rangers. Those Old Firm setbacks came either side of a home loss to Ferencvaros in the Europa League, while Celtic also suffered a shock Champions League collapse against LASK in August, surrendering a 4-0 aggregate lead. Despite that run, Celtic are two points clear at the top of the Premiership.
“I will reflect on the games,” O’Neill said. “I’m not immune from criticism. Absolutely and utterly far from it. I think there’s every reason to ask, ‘can you turn this round? Can you change the whole thing? I have to kind of look at the bigger picture at this minute.”
O’Neill was made permanent manager for a second time in the summer after two stints as interim boss last season resulted in a league and Scottish Cup double. He previously won seven trophies with Celtic from 2000-05, when Lambert was playing for the club.
Former Celtic captain Paul Lambert says he would not be surprised if O’Neill left, but would be shocked and disappointed if the manager was sacked. Lambert, who also managed Ipswich Town and Norwich City, insists O’Neill is Celtic’s best manager since the great Jock Stein.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if he left. I don’t think he needs it,” Lambert said. “I’d be shocked and disappointed if Celtic sacked him. I think they give him the option, if that’s what’s on his mind, if he did want to walk away. He’s got enough credit in the bank. It wasn’t that long ago people were shouting for a statue for him, so I don’t think you can go from one extreme to the other. If he wants to go, then he goes himself.”
Lambert also praised the work O’Neill did last season, when he steadied Celtic twice after the departures of Brendan Rodgers and Wilfried Nancy. “They were hanging on by a thread and he turned that around,” Lambert said. “There was only one person who could rescue Celtic last season and he did that. I’d bet any money that he hasn’t changed anything from how he was then.”
He was critical of individual performances in the defeats by Rangers and of defender Cameron Carter-Vickers, who spoke of playing “too random” and “getting a script and sticking to it”. “The players need to take responsibility,” Lambert said. “I watched the game and dear oh dear… That was cringeworthy, the stuff from Carter-Vickers. I thought ‘hang on, you’re not making a movie’. Solve the problem yourselves. When something is not going right, you look to rectify it, you don’t look to a manager to say ‘do this or do that’. I thought that was bang out of order, coming from someone who’s been a decent player for Celtic.”
O’Neill’s future remains open, with the manager set to reflect on the recent games and Lambert making clear that if a change happens, he believes it should be O’Neill’s own decision.