Martin O’Neill considering walking away from Celtic over summer signing spat

Martin O’Neill cut a frustrated figure after Celtic‘s Old Firm defeat to Rangers, and it’s becoming increasingly clear the result is the least of his problems behind the scenes.

It was a chastening afternoon at Celtic Park, with Rangers claiming a second derby win in the space of a week following their League Cup victory at Ibrox.

Derek McInnes’ side were well-organised and aggressive, restricting Celtic to just one shot on target despite the Hoops having more of the ball, as Ryan Naderi pounced on a parried effort to score the only goal.

The result moves Rangers within two points of Celtic and continues a remarkable turnaround for a team that started the season poorly enough to be dumped out of both the Europa League and Conference League. O’Neill’s side, by contrast, have now lost three straight in all competitions, and the manager didn’t hide his frustration afterwards.

“It was a tough game. I don’t think there’s very much between the teams,” the 74-year-old said. “We should have created more. We had a lot of possession. It has been a tough week. The history of the club proves it will fight back from these things.

Publicly, that’s about as far as O’Neill has been willing to go – measured, defiant, careful not to throw anyone under the bus. But according to journalist Graham Spiers, the calm exterior is masking a manager who has become steadily more exasperated with the way Celtic have gone about their business behind the scenes.

Spiers reported over the weekend that O’Neill’s frustration has been building over the summer as a number of his preferred transfer targets failed to materialise, and that he was particularly unhappy with how Arne Engels’ exit was handled, feeling the Belgian was allowed to leave without an adequate replacement lined up.

O’Neill was fairly candid about the midfielder’s exit in the build-up the Rangers game. “I always felt Arne was going to be leaving,” he admitted. “Trying to get a like for like, we looked at a number of players who could do that. For one reason or another, it didn’t materialise.

“He’s been a loss in terms of that running power he can give you. In an ideal world, it would have been great to have the likes of Arne. Will we look at that again in January? You’d have to. Very much so.”

O’Neill spat sees summer signing left out of squad

REUTERS/Daniele Mascolo

Football FanCast sources understand the Celtic board believe Oliver Sørensen represented an apt like-for-like replacement for Engels, however O’Neill simply doesn’t rate the Dane in that role – and made his feelings known in the most emphatic way possible by leaving him out of the squad entirely for the visit of Rangers.

Incredibly, Celtic signed ten players over the summer, yet only two of them started against Rangers.

Sørensen started the Europa League defeat to Ferencváros last week but was hauled off after 45 minutes. The 24 year-old completed all 14 of his passes, but just two of them were in the attacking third, with the type of directness Engels brought week in week out sorely lacking.

For a club that spent heavily in the transfer market, it’s a damning look – and a clear signal that O’Neill isn’t willing to paper over his issues with the board’s recruitment strategy just to keep the peace.

Sources understand the manager is now giving serious thought to walking away from the job during the international break, but he will not do so unless the club have a replacement lined up.

O’Neill values his legacy at Celtic Park and does not want to risk plunging the Hoops further into chaos, leaving the much-maligned board with three weeks to either figure out a succession plan or convince the 74 year-old he will receive adequate backing in January.