Martin O’Neill Calls for Celtic ‘Unification’ – But is Fan Unrest Affecting Team?

Interim manager Martin O’Neill says Celtic need “some sort of unification”, after fans once again called for changes in the way the club is run during their dramatic Scottish Premiership victory over St Mirren on Saturday.

“Sack the board” rang out from the away end at both the start and end of the contest in Paisley, which Celtic won thanks to Callum McGregor’s 95th-minute piledriver.

It is the latest in a series of protests against the Celtic leadership, who supporters believe have allowed the club to regress.

Results both domestically and in Europe have slumped since the turn of the year.

Celtic trail Hearts by four points in the Scottish Premiership and failed to qualify for the Champions League after a dismal play-off defeat by Kazakh champions Kairat. They have since won only one of their four Europa League matches.

Much-needed attacking signings only came after they dropped out of Europe’s top club competition, with fans saying it was all too little, too late.

O’Neill, 73, was parachuted back into the Celtic manager’s role after Brendan Rodgers resigned in late October, exposing a rift between himself and majority shareholder Dermot Desmond.

Former Northern Ireland midfielder O’Neill – twice a European Cup winner with Nottingham Forest – is a Celtic legend after winning seven major honours as manager between 2000 and 2005.

However, fans have continued to protest despite one of their heroes returning, determined to force change in the boardroom.

The club’s AGM was abandoned on Friday when shareholders jeered Desmond’s son Ross for accusing some fans of being “bullies”.

It had earlier been adjourned for half an hour by chairman Peter Lawwell following chants of “sack the board”

O’Neill called it “as sad a morning” as he had seen and recalled legendary predecessor Jock Stein saying “a club not united would never be successful”.

“We just need some sort of unification again,” he added after the St Mirren win.

“I know I made the point about Jock’s team, but Jock’s team, that’s what he built. He built the football club in unification – fans and players and team and everybody else going in the same way.”

Off-field drama affecting on-field performance?

McGregor’s magnificent goal papered over some large cracks against St Mirren.

Celtic have failed to score in six matches this season, have scored fewer in the league than both Hearts and Hibernian, and were blunt again against St Mirren.

It took until second-half injury time for O’Neill’s side to have an effort on target – a tame header from substitute Yang Hyun-Jun. It took a moment of magic from McGregor to turn one point into three.

For large stages of the match, it looked as though it might have been zero.

Conor McMenamin twice went close in the first half, Miguel Freckleton spooned an excellent chance over the bar, and Liam Scales put through his own goal, only to be spared his blushes by an offside flag against McMenamin.

It was put to the former Leicester City, Aston Villa and Republic of Ireland boss that off-field dramas might have affected the Celtic players on the pitch.

“When it was a continuation of not really supporting the team tonight, and it was just ‘sack the board’ the whole way through, there’s an element that it might [affect the team],” O’Neill said.

“I don’t think it helps, but the one thing we don’t lack is unity within the dressing room.”

‘Stein would have sorted it in two days’

It is now nearly a month since O’Neill was summoned by Desmond to take interim charge and there is still no indication that a permanent appointment is close.

Columbus Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy is reportedly the leading candidate, while Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna and Wales boss Craig Bellamy have also been linked.

O’Neill expects to take charge of Thursday’s Europa League match at Feyenoord, but believes the new manager – whoever they might be – is capable of healing the rift between fans and board.

“I absolutely do,” he said. “Jock Stein would have sorted it out in two days, but that was Jock Stein. We were just followers after that.”

When asked if he thinks he can help soften the divide, O’Neill simply said he hopes the club can move in the same direction moving forwards.

“You have to know your place here,” he said. “What you did or were part of 20-odd years ago, I don’t think makes a heap of a difference.

“But I would love to see it, regardless of who comes in or where I go. It would be great. And I’d be hopeful at some stage or another that that would happen.”

Soirce: BBC