{"id":252787,"date":"2025-11-09T09:14:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T09:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/252787\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T09:14:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T09:14:10","slug":"martin-oneills-lasting-gift-to-celtic-successor-as-sebastian-tounekti-makes-title-prediction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/252787\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin O’Neill’s lasting gift to Celtic successor as Sebastian Tounekti makes title prediction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Celtic chiefs are set to step up manager hunt during international break and Tounekti is confident the Hoops will hit their targetsCeltic interim manager Martin O’Neill (R) and Coach Mark Fotheringham (L) during a William Hill Premiership match between St Mirren and Hibernian at the SMiSA Stadium<\/p>\n

Sebastian Tounekti believes Martin O\u2019Neill\u2019s lasting gift to Celtic<\/a> has been giving players the courage to hunt down Hearts.<\/p>\n

The Parkhead winger says interim boss O\u2019Neill<\/a> has been a breath of fresh air since he arrived a fortnight ago. And he insists Celtic\u2019s mid-season managerial upheaval won\u2019t derail their bid to claw back Hearts\u2019 lead at the top.<\/p>\n

Parkhead chiefs will step up their hunt for a new boss this week with Tounekti\u2019<\/a>s former gaffer at Bodo\/Glimt Kjetil Knutsen among the frontrunners. Also in the frame are Columbus Crew\u2019s Wilfried Nancy and Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna.<\/p>\n

Before then, O\u2019Neill will take charge again as Kilmarnock visit Parkhead this afternoon before the international break<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Celtic are looking to bounce back from Thursday\u2019s Europa League flop against Midtjylland to keep tabs on runaway leaders Hearts, who could go 12 points clear for an hour if they defeat Dundee United at Tynecastle in the earlier kick-off.<\/p>\n

Despite the gap Tounekti \u2013 who won two Norwegian titles under Knutsen \u2013 remains confident Celtic will finish on top.<\/p>\n

Celtic’s Sebastian Tounekti in action<\/p>\n

But he insists the Hoops can\u2019t allow the turmoil that followed Brendan Rodgers\u2019 departure to become a distraction.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIt\u2019s been difficult for everyone. Brendan was a great coach and did really well here.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a player you just have to keep moving forward. It\u2019s the business we are in \u2013 anything can happen and now we just have to look forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you play for Celtic you want to win every game. Of course we wanted to be first and to lead the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we are behind and are chasing. I still think we will do well. It\u2019s early days and there are so many games left.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to keep going and keep fighting. I\u2019m sure we will end up doing well this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knutsen was linked with the Parkhead job when Ange Postecoglou left in 2023 and is now the bookies\u2019 favourite to succeed Rodgers.<\/p>\n

But if the 57-year-old is to end his nine-year association with Bodo it might not be before their Champions League bid is over in January at the earliest.<\/p>\n

\"Bodo\/GlimtBodo\/Glimt manager Kjetil Knutsen(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Until then O\u2019Neill and Shaun Maloney remain in interim charge. And Tounekti is making the most of his chance to learn from former Parkhead winger Maloney and build on his impressive start to life in Glasgow.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old scored his first goal in front of home fans against Falkirk last month.<\/p>\n

And, despite a reality check in Denmark, the Tunisia star says O\u2019Neill and Maloney have ensured the Hoops haven\u2019t lost belief.<\/p>\n

He said: “From the first day he (O\u2019Neill) gave us motivation and the courage to believe we are a great team with great players.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has motivated us a lot. You can see the history he has and he knows so much about the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have also spoken a lot with Shaun who played in my position. I\u2019ve had great tips from both of them to bring it into my game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Celtic chiefs are set to step up manager hunt during international break and Tounekti is confident the Hoops…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[2817,2600,218,3624,30905,49475,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-252787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-celtic-fc","tag-europa-league","tag-football","tag-kieran-mckenna","tag-martin-oneill","tag-sebastian-tounekti","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}