MARTIN O’NEILL has appealed for a united Celtic as he prepares for his third spell in charge of the champions.
The 73-year-old boss is hoping to play a role in a truce between the fans and the board in effort to turn around the fortunes of the faltering Hoops who are struggling to make up ground in the pursuit of their fifth successive title.
Wilfried Nancy’s disastrous 33-day spell saw the team shed TWELVE precious Premiership points with league defeats against Hearts, Dundee United, Motherwell and Danny Rohl’s Ibrox side at the weekend.
That horror sequence has seen Derek McInnes’ Tynecastle team move six points clear while the Govan club moved into second position with a three-point advantage and a game more played with their 2-0 victory over managerless Aberdeen earlier in the week.
O’Neill witnessed the rift between supporters and the powerbrokers after answering the first SOS in late October following the rapid departure of Brendan Rodgers.
The charismatic Irishman led the side to seven wins in his eight games during his interim spell – including five league triumphs to stack up 15 points – and is preparing for the visit of Dundee United on Saturday in his efforts to get back on track.
Analysing the ongoing situation, O’Neill said: “In the longer, shorter term I wouldn’t mind having a meeting with a group of people just for people airing their grievances and things like this here.
“But, listen, I’m a football manager. It’s ridiculous of me, and rather obnoxiously ridiculous of me, to think that I can resolve a problem.
“What you can do is have a bit of a truce, if that’s the case.
“I’d love it if the stadium was absolutely ready to go and ready to support the players through thick and thin because it will be a difficult time.”
O’Neill, speaking to the Scottish Sun, continued: “It does wear you down a bit, you know. So, it would be nice to have people together.
“But, that’s unfair of me to think that I would be able to do anything about it.
“We’d have to try and win the football matches and that quells things for a little while. That’s all it does.
“But eventually, at some stage, whatever comes and goes, the board and supporters will have to come back into unison.”
Quizzed if the team would immediately respond to a change in the atmosphere, O’Neill answered: “Of course.
“I think that’s what we would all like.
“I get back to the point; we might discuss at a later stage, but at this minute I have to just genuinely focus on trying to win a game or two and that does help.
“It doesn’t solve the problem, but it might help quell things for a while or calm things down for a while.”
And it all kicks off again in two days’ time.
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