Martin O’Neill is back at Celtic and it could not have been better news for the Hoops support.
Celtic sacked Wilfried Nancy after a tumultuous six weeks in charge saw the Frenchman lose six out of his first eight games in charge.
Nancy lost the Premier Sports Cup final, the Celtic Glasgow Derby to Rangers and the top-of-the-table clash to Hearts as the Frenchman struggled in Paradise.
Now that Nancy has gone, Celtic turned to Martin O’Neill once again to return to the club and clean up the mess that the former MLS coach left behind.
And here, O’Neill shares the real reason he said yes to Dermot Desmond about coming back to Celtic for the second time this season.
Martin O’Neill says Celtic call was ‘still a bit of a shock’
Many Celtic supporters could hardly believe O’Neill returned for a second spell as the interim boss.
And when O’Neill was asked by Jim White how the return to Celtic came about as the Hoops legend told talkSPORT, “Very similar circumstances. Again. Obviously, the results just recently for the football club haven’t been great, but even though it was still a bit of a shock, and I think that really just similar circumstances as before.”
When asked what made him say yes to Dermot Desmond and if he had no hesitation, or if part of him was thinking he’s been there and done that, O’Neill said, “I think a bit of both in all honesty, Jim.
“I think that the latter part is something that went through my mind, yes, been there before. Can you come and resurrect it again? Same sort of thought process concerned about whether you can win football matches.”
Why Martin O’Neill said yes to Dermot Desmond about Celtic return
Clearly, Dermot Desmond was the architect of O’Neill’s return to Celtic and it seems that the single largest shareholder had his old friend on speed dial again.
O’Neill continued, “It was very, very difficult to say no to the man who put me in charge away back 25 years ago.
“So from that viewpoint, yeah, you mentioned hesitation. Hesitation in the sense, you know what I mean in the hesitation is whether you can come back again and win some games. But that will always be the case.”
O’Neill’s first fixture in charge of Celtic the second time around is against Dundee United at Celtic Park this Saturday.
Celtic supporters will be hoping to exact revenge on the Taysiders after the last meeting at Tannadice ended in a 2-1 defeat.
O’Neill will be keen to get Celtic’s title bid back on the rails and nothing but a statement win against Jim Goodwin’s side will do.