Celtic’s silence on Martin O’Neill’s backroom team has become hard to ignore with pre-season training due to begin tomorrow.

The club were expected by many to bring clarity on Thursday after Graham Spiers, a journalist with close links to O’Neill, indicated that he believed a statement was coming. That raised the expectation that Celtic would finally put the Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham situation to bed before the squad returned to Lennoxtown.

As of the time of writing, that has not happened.

The situation carries added significance because Spiers even speculated that O’Neill could walk away if the backroom staff issue was not resolved properly. Celtic do not necessarily need to address that directly in a formal statement, but they do need to show stability. Whether that comes through O’Neill speaking on camera, the club confirming his coaching team, or simply making it clear he is happy with the current direction, the silence is allowing avoidable concern to grow.

Celtic could still issue confirmation later tonight or early tomorrow morning, and there may well be routine reasons for the delay. Contracts can take time to complete, roles may need to be finalised, and the club may prefer to announce the full set-up at once rather than confirm names in stages.

But the timing is what makes this so strange. Players are due back for pre-season and there is still no official word on who will be standing beside O’Neill on the training pitch. Gavin Strachan has already left for West Brom, leaving a clear gap in the coaching staff. Maloney and Fotheringham have both been reported as likely to remain, with fresh claims earlier today suggesting deals were expected to be confirmed, but Celtic have not yet said so themselves.

That gap between outside reporting and official confirmation is exactly where frustration grows. It leaves fans trying to work out the structure of the first-team staff from bits and pieces rather than hearing it directly from the club.

It also fits into a wider pattern this summer. There is still no confirmation on whether Kelechi Iheanacho or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will continue at Celtic. There has been no first-team signing announced. The head of football operations role remains unconfirmed. The set-piece coaching element also needs addressed after Strachan’s departure.

None of these issues on their own would cause panic in late June. Together, on the night before pre-season begins, they create a poor picture.

Celtic may argue that work is taking place privately and that announcements will come when matters are complete. That is fine to a point. But when a credible journalist signals that clarity is expected and the day passes without anything landing, the lack of communication becomes part of the story.

O’Neill should be walking into pre-season with his staff settled, his squad plan moving, and the football structure around him clear. Instead, Celtic are beginning another important summer with too many unanswered questions.