MARTIN O’NEILL revealed there were no promises when he agreed to extend his stay as Celtic manager.
The 74-year-old Irishman had just completed two stints as interim boss in the Hoops’ remarkable league and Cup-winning campaign.
During negotiations for a season-long contract, O’Neill admitted he did NOT seek assurances from the Parkhead powerbrokers for transfer funds.
With other teams adding to their squads during a busy summer, the champions have signed just one new face – Colombian striker Camilo Duran who arrived last week from Qarabag in a £5.5million switch.
CELTIC VIEW…Martin O’Neill gives his verdict after the team’s 4-1 friendly loss against Sporting Lisbon at the Estadio Algarve on Tuesday. Image courtesy of Celtic Player.
The fans are growing increasingly frustrated with the Parkhead board, including principal shareholder Dermot Desmond, chief executive Michael Nicholson and interim chairman Brian Wilson.
Commenting on the situation, O’Neill said: “Did I seek any assurances before taking up the job again? No, none at all. I’ve never done that.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to be assured that if you kept losing matches, that you could stay until the end of the season?
“I didn’t put anything at all. I just hope we can do some business at the end of it all. But, no, I didn’t put any assurances.”
O’Neill first answered the Celtic SOS when Brendan Rodgers sensationally quit in late October following back-to-back league losses against Dundee (0-2) and Hearts (1-3).
He stepped down again in early December to make way for Wilfried Nancy who signed a two-and-a-half year deal after being lured from MLS side Columbus Crew.
Following six defeats in eight outings during 33 catastrophic days, the Frenchman got the boot and the distress flares went up again in the east end of Glasgow. Once again, O’Neill accepted the challenge to steer the team through troubled waters until the season’s conclusion.
Incredibly, the veteran team coach led the club to their fifth successive title and threw in the Scottish Cup for good measure.
WELCOME TO CELTIC…new Bhoy Camilo Duran made a striking debut in Portugal.
Quizzed if the trust between Desmond and himself had been a major factor for not making demands, O’Neill, speaking to the Scottish Sun, answered: “I just didn’t seek any.
“I can’t turn around and say: ‘By the way, you need to get me 12 players and if you only get 10 then you’ve broken the trust’ or something like that.
“Maybe it’s the fact I’ve known the owner of the football club for some time and I genuinely believe he will help when trying to get things over the line. Let me put it that way.
“I got a chance to talk to Dermot, Michael and Brian in Dublin. We went for something to eat after the Shelbourne game.
“What’s my relationship like with them? Way, way back in my first spell, I went to board meetings which were monthly.
“I had a lot of conversations with Dermot back in those days. They’ve been less frequent since January, but the conversations should be a bit more often now as we look at players.
“Historically speaking we have been quite late bringing players in, so I’m not perturbed at this minute.
IT TAKES TWO…Shaun Maloney and Martin O’Neill.
“We are making some sort of progress, as we have been for a while. It just takes a wee bit of time.”
The club have been without a recruitment chief since Paul Tisdale was sacked at the same time as Nancy.
Shaun Maloney, O’Neill’s No.2, took a key role in bringing players in during the January window, but is concentrating on his main job now.
The charismatic gaffer added: “The club are looking at that at this minute. There’s a process, but it’s not at the top of the list at this minute.
“I’ve got a couple of boys in the background who are very good. Mark Cooper has been doing really well for us.
“He’s identified some really players over the last 10 or 12 years. I think he’s filling that type of role, head scout whatever you call it, pretty well.
“The recruitment department send stuff over to us and eventually it’s our say that makes the difference.
“But Shaun isn’t doing that to the same extent he was before. He was doing six or seven jobs at the time. Now he’s just focusing on this which is fine.”
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