Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham Celtic Return Delay Reason Revealed

Martin O’Neill has revealed it was his fault Celtic delayed the agreements for Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham to return to the club.

The pair played massive parts in the Hoops’ league and cup Double victory last season and, when O’Neill was confirmed as permanent boss, it seemed the logical step for the duo to rejoin his staff.

As it transpired, rumours swirled of Celtic asking the backroom staff to take a salary cut before allowing them to make their returns and that speculation went unchallenged for almost two weeks.

Thankfully the coaches were both willing to sign on the dotted line and take their place in the dugout alongside the Northern Irishman, but it was the latter who took the blame for the delay.

According to O’Neill, it was his lengthy thought process on his own job which forced the wait despite chief executive Michael Nicholson copping it over the holdup.

And the gaffer held his hands up over the ordeal. “All this thing about the backroom staff, that is totally down to me delaying, seriously. It was my fault as much as anything else because there were roles going elsewhere,” he said.

“If a new manager were to step into the football club, obviously he’d want his own staff and things like that. It was me delaying to see whether I wanted to do it or not – that was one of the reasons.”

Maloney and Fozzy proved to be very popular within the Celtic squad last season and it was imperative they were signed up for the new year.

The wage cut speculation remains unclear but both agreeing to make their comeback this season points towards the coaching group clearly feeling there is more to be done at Parkhead.

Stephen McManus and Stevie Woods make up the rest of the staff for O’Neill to lean on while Gavin Strachan recently opted to leave Celtic to join West Brom in the EFL Championship.

The Scottish champions did, however, add to their staff behind the scenes further as they raided Hearts for their set-piece coach.

Ross Grant takes the position at Lennoxtown in what is a new avenue for Celtic having never had a dedicated free-kicks, corners and throw-in expert in the building.