Chris Sutton has urged Celtic to act decisively and appoint a new permanent manager after Sunday’s clash with Kilmarnock, saying he hopes his former boss Martin O’Neill will step aside once the international break begins.
O’Neill has provided much-needed stability and a lift since returning to the dugout on an interim basis, overseeing a 4-0 win over Falkirk and a League Cup semi-final triumph over Rangers, before losing to Midtjylland in the Europa League.
Now, Celtic are preparing to face Kilmarnock in the league on Sunday, in a 4 pm kick-off, before heading into the international break.
But Sutton, who enjoyed a glittering spell under O’Neill during Celtic’s dominant early-2000s era, insists the club must now move forward with a long-term plan and “fresh ideas.”
“Celtic need to be decisive. And be decisive now. It just needs to be one or the other and fast,” Sutton wrote in RecordSport.
“It can’t just float along because there is too much resting on it.
“There needs to be a clear plan and clear vision of what is going to happen in the next few months.
“Let me put my cards on the table right now. With my hand on my heart, I hope my old boss finishes up after tomorrow’s game against Kilmarnock.
“Before anyone starts slaughtering me or saying I am not being fair, let me explain why.
“Martin O’Neill is a legend at Celtic for what he did during my time there as a player.
“I owe him plenty for signing me as I wouldn’t have experienced the whole thing or enjoyed such a wonderful time in my career if he hadn’t done that.
“He walked back into the club in the wake of the Brendan Rodgers departure and he answered the call with Shaun Maloney placed at his side.
“Now that’s great. It was important to have someone who could unite the club, the fans and bring a bounce into the players.
“That was achieved. The wins over Falkirk and against Rangers ensured no damage done domestically in the very short term.”
The interim manager himself has made it clear that he only plans to be at the club for a short spell and is not looking to return as the official manager.
It was a rushed decision when Dermot Desmond called him up a few weeks ago, with Martin O’Neill having ten minutes to decide whether he was taking the job or not.
The 73-year-old is keen for Celtic to appoint a younger manager with fresher ideas, too.
Hopefully, we see some movement during the international break.
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2 responses
Chris get off Martins Back, lack of quality players let the team down, don’t see you having a go at the Rangers manager for their crap performance in Europe. Martin to stay and be given better tools to work with.
The last comments spot on the club has let the team and fans + rodgers down with lack of investment id imagine Martin on Thursday got a close up look at how poor the sqaud is also look how many 1st team players are out with injuries it’s a shot show we can forget Europe this year now if I was martin id be out after this next game to that team needs major investment in it a thing our boards not keen on at all I don’t blame rodgers for leaving if he did leave or was he pushed for telling the truth need to wait till he writes his book to find out I suppose