{"id":305797,"date":"2025-12-08T22:06:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T22:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/305797\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T22:06:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T22:06:08","slug":"martin-oneill-pitched-to-celtic-board-in-different-guise-as-two-wilfried-nancy-alarm-bells-ring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/305797\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin O’Neill pitched to Celtic board in different guise as two Wilfried Nancy alarm bells ring"},"content":{"rendered":"

The unbeaten league run carved out by the Irishman was ended by Hearts in Nancy’s first game<\/p>\n

20:05, 08 Dec 2025Updated 20:06, 08 Dec 2025<\/p>\n

Martin O’Neill(Image: SNS Group)<\/p>\n

Celtic icon Martin O’Neill<\/a> should be appointed to the Parkhead board after his interim stint in the dugout claims Charlie Mulgrew. It comes after new boss Wilfried Nancy endured a nightmare dugout debut against Hearts.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill was in charge of the Hoops for the final time during the 1-0 win over Dundee<\/a>, and would land a new punditry gig just days later as his former side<\/a> Aston Villa faced Arsenal. The following day, Nancy<\/a> took charge of the Hoops for the first time as Hearts ran out 2-1 winners.<\/p>\n

That defeat saw Derek McInnes men move three points clear at the top of the Premiership. Nancy would raise eyebrows by using a tactics board on the touchline during the game, and after the defeat would play down the importance of winning matches over performance levels.<\/a><\/p>\n

With a Europa League showdown with Roma following the clash with the Jambos before the Premier Sports Cup final clash against St Mirren, but Mulgrew and Kevin Thomson reckon O’Neill could have assisted the Frenchman adjust to the high-pressure job. Former Rangers man Thomson asked on The Blueprint<\/a>: “Would you have kept Martin O’Neill as a sounding board?<\/p>\n

“I am not being disrespectful, or saying he doesn’t understand the institution of the club, how big the club is, the magnitude of it, he will already be feeling the pressure because that is what comes with representing Celtic; but then you have someone who has just been in there – I think the club have missed a trick.<\/p>\n

“Not as a mentor, because he is obviously a brilliant coach, but for how he would address the media…”<\/p>\n

Mulgrew fired back: “What does that look like? Where does he go on a day to day basis?”<\/p>\n

Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy issues instructions as Hearts manager Derek McInnes looks on<\/p>\n

Thomson went on: “He has come out and said those comments, he has had the tactics board…when represent Celtic and and you have your arch-rivals chasing you and you don’t win a game of football, all these wee things that you see on social media; just to have Martin O’Neill’s experience behind you or somebody like that…”<\/p>\n

Mulgrew floated a solution: “But what does that look like? Is he with Nancy every day? Is there confusion with the players who go ‘who is gaffer here?’ I think it would be good to have Martin O’Neill on the board somewhere.”<\/p>\n

O’Neill left the door open for a new role within the club before his departure – but stated it would have to be Nancy’s decision: “I think that will be for the manager to decide.<\/p>\n

“He should be given free rein to pick his staff, which he will want to do, and anything else concerning football should really be up to him.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The unbeaten league run carved out by the Irishman was ended by Hearts in Nancy’s first game 20:05,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[2817,62761,63797,2600,218,122481,30905,8058,101,56,54,55,106896],"class_list":{"0":"post-305797","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-celtic-fc","9":"tag-charlie-mulgrew","10":"tag-derek-mcinnes","11":"tag-europa-league","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-kevin-thomson","14":"tag-martin-oneill","15":"tag-scottish-premiership","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-unitedkingdom","20":"tag-wilfried-nancy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305797","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=305797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}