Martin O’Neill tonight acknowledged that Celtic may look to bring in a younger manager this summer ahead of talks with major shareholder Dermot Desmond about his future at Parkhead next week.
O’Neill, who was tempted out of retirement by Desmond back in October and who has spent two separate spells in the dugout this season, was hailed by the Glasgow club’s supporters at Hampden this afternoon after leading them to the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup.
The comfortable 3-1 win which the William Hill Premiership champions recorded against second tier Dunfermline completed a domestic double which seemed inconceivable at certain stages during what has been a turbulent 2025/26 campaign.
But the 74-year-old is still unsure if he will be asked to stay on in his position by wealthy financier Desmond or if a permanent replacement – and they have been linked with moves for their former players Craig Bellamy and Robbie Keane in recent weeks - will be brought in during the summer months.
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“Naturally, I am delighted,” he said. “I’m pleased with the team and pleased for the football club. I honestly could not be more delighted. It’s worth reiterating, I never thought I’d be back managing Celtic football club. You couldn’t have thought that. It’s a nice feeling. I thought these days were gone so it’s so, so pleasing.
“I don’t think I’ll ever lose the hunger or the passion for the game. Honestly, I really don’t. When they’re putting a lid on top of me I think I’ll jump up and say, ‘What’s the score?’ And hopefully Celtic have scored!
“But if you’re saying we’d start back in a week’s time, I genuinely couldn’t do that. I’ll have to have a think and I think in the next week I’ll meet up with the owner and see what he’s saying.
“He hasn’t said anything to me and I don’t know if that’s good news or bad news. But I will genuinely have a wee look at it to see. I’d be thinking, though, that for the football club to go forward properly then they’d probably looking at somebody younger.
“If you’re asking me if I’d have a project or something like that then, no, I couldn’t do that. I wouldn’t have it. I’ve never believed in a project anyway, to tell you the truth. But I definitely couldn’t do that.”
“I really, genuinely don’t know. I would have thought in the last few weeks that they would be looking at options. They have to be because pre-season is coming. But it’ll be an interesting conversation, so we’ll see.”
O’Neill continued, “I would have to check my heart monitor for a start. My blood pressure would probably be up. It has, honestly, been great. And the only reason it’s been great has been because we’ve been successful at the end of it all. I don’t know, I really don’t know. It’s nice to think, ‘I’d love to do that again’. But I really do not know.
“There can be no one in this room my age and you’ve got to consider that. I can pass it off as a joke, but I really don’t know. I think I must be in consideration for the job, even though it might be for a very short term.
“It has turned out well for us at the end this season, but it could have so easily have gone wrong. It is going to be a really important summer now. In the next four to five weeks, we’ll have some of the lads off on World Cup duty. There are players whose abilities I don’t know who are out on loan and will come back.”
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Kieran Tierney, the Celtic left-back who was this week named in the Scotland squad for the World Cup, went down clutching his ankle towards the end of the final yesterday and was replaced by Marcelo Saracchi for the final minutes.
Asked about the extent of his injury, O’Neill said, “I’d like to stay for next season is so that Kieran completes a game! I love him to bits and Shaun [assistant Maloney] keeps coming to me at 55 minutes about taking him off. He is doing my brain in.
“No, he is fine. He has done brilliantly. I think a real pre-season with him will suit him down to the ground.”
Dunfermline manager Neil Lennon held O’Neill’s arm aloft following the final whistle and the Celtic caretaker confessed that he had been touched by his former player’s classy gesture.
“It shouldn’t be a mutual admiration society, but I love him,” he said. I know he is a wee fat lump, but I love him. He pulled me out of the quagmire at Leicester City, honestly, and went on to become a big, big player for the next three or four years.
“I took him to Celtic and he was really fantastic. He played a major part in proceedings. I don’t think there is anyone better with his career as a player and as a manager. There isn’t.”
