Celtic's Martin O'Neill Urged to Show More Fight After Poor Results
Simon Jordan has called on Martin O'Neill to show more fight after the Celtic manager publicly questioned his own future in the wake of a brutal run of results.
Celtic have just endured a week that will linger. Three defeats in seven days. Two of them to Rangers. All of them damaging.
It started with a 3-0 humbling at Ibrox in the Scottish League Cup quarter-final, a result that stripped away early-season optimism in one harsh evening. Then came a 1-0 loss to Rangers at Celtic Park in the Scottish Premiership, a defeat that not only stung because of the opposition, but because it ended Celtic's perfect start to their league campaign.
The European stage offered no respite. Wedged between those two Old Firm setbacks was a defeat to Ferencvaros in the Europa League opener, another reminder that Celtic’s problems are not confined to domestic competition.
Add it all up and the picture is stark: four defeats in all competitions already this season, the same number they suffered across 35 games last term.
This was supposed to be a season of consolidation and control. O'Neill, 74, had signed a one-year deal in June after returning in January as caretaker and driving Celtic to a Scottish Premiership and Scottish Cup double. The narrative looked simple then: the old master back in charge, trophies flowing, one more year to steady and strengthen.
Instead, after the latest loss to Rangers, O'Neill stepped in front of the microphones and opened the door to doubt.
"I genuinely will reflect and see," he said. "It's a matter of whether I can help the team. If that's the case – the manager's supposed to be able to do that. I will have a look at that there this week."
Those words jarred with Simon Jordan. The former Crystal Palace chairman expected steel, not introspection.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Jordan made it clear he wanted to hear a very different tone from the Celtic boss.
"I've liked to see him being a bit spikier and a bit more robust, rather than sounding relatively defeated in that clip," Jordan said.
He felt O’Neill should have gone on the front foot, sending a message to both dressing room and support that the slide stops here.
"I certainly would have been wanting to say back to them, 'This has happened, it will not happen again,'" Jordan added.
Instead, O’Neill’s public reflection on whether he is still the right man for the job left Jordan uneasy.
"The fact that he's talking about whether he can help the team and whether it's his time – I find that slightly strange of Martin, but he's having a reflective moment."
Celtic now stand at a crossroads early in the season: a veteran manager weighing his own position, a fanbase demanding a response, and a title defence suddenly under scrutiny. The next move, and the tone in which it is made, will say everything about where this campaign is really heading.
