Upon returning to the place he once called home, Martin O’Neill would have immediately recognised that the united front he used to know at Parkhead was no more.
Hired initially after Dermot Desmond had seen Brendan Rodgers off the premises with a scathing critique to go with his P45, there must have been moment when the veteran would have privately wondered what exactly he’d signed up for.
When demonstrations and anti-board sentiment spilled over into the club’s AGM last November, the match was abandoned.
In the days which followed, and with the divide between both factions only widening, O’Neill sought to offer his diplomatic services.
Channeling his inner Henry Kissinger, the Northern Irishman claimed he’d be willing to act as an intermediary if there was a chance that the respective differences could be resolved.
Despite his legendary status at the club affording him a level of respect like no other present-day individual, the phone call never came. Almost one year on, the offer is off the table.
Martin O’Neill says he won’t be getting involved in the ongoing row between fans and the club
After witnessing another poor transfer window and yet another defeat in a Champions League play-off, the number of Celtic supporters who retain faith in the club’s custodians has been further eroded.
On the back of witnessing three diabolical displays immediately prior to the international break, a group connected with the Celtic Collective took their gripes straight to source.
Four holes from finishing his round at the Old Course last Saturday, Dermot Desmond was never going to take kindly to being pelted by tennis balls by protesters wearing balaclavas.
Celtic’s reaction — threatening to ban anyone involved — was the inevitable escalation of tensions. Just as predictable was a response from the Green Brigade yesterday who will not now attend home matches in Europe or the Scottish Cup.
Fresh from deciding that he’s still got the desire to turn matters around on the park, O’Neill briefly addressed matters off it by taking a dim view of the incident in St Andrews.
Yet there clearly will be no further attempts to act as a peacemaker. He does not have the time or the energy for it any more. And, even if he did, he feels the divide is now simply too wide.
‘You know what? I think it is,’ he said. ‘I suppose the best person to ask is maybe Sir Alex Ferguson about the comings and goings way back where he was asked questions about the Glazers. So, if Sir Alex can’t sort it out there is not much hope for the rest of us.’
Aside from thinking over his suitability for the manager’s post across the international break, O’Neill has clearly considered his place in this ongoing conflict.
From here on in, it won’t be standing in the middle trying to broker some kind of truce. He’s taking a couple of steps back. He needs his energy for other things.
‘I have to,’ he stressed. ‘Thinking you are in a position, which I am not, to quell something if you don’t win matches… I am judged on football matches. That’s why it was a pretty crappy week. A really, really bad week.
Celtic’s Green Brigade have opted not to attend home matches in Europe or the Scottish Cup
‘The other things are not in my control. Please don’t start thinking they are. They are not. I have said it is a situation that I would love to be resolved and it is a really sad situation because it is not Celtic.
‘If it has gone again, I can’t focus on that, honestly. I can’t control it. I can’t do it. This is not me. I am judged on other things.’
Those are, of course, primarily results and performances. And when three shockers on both counts arrive in the space of a week, it’s not O’Neill’s skills as a diplomatic that anyone is concerned with. It’s his ability to still organise and motivate a football team.
While he now contends that his remarks pertaining to his future after the second loss to Rangers stemmed partly from the proximity to the newly elongated international break, at the time, they felt entirely fitting.
Any team or a manager can have a bad day at the office. When a week is filled with them, serious questions are asked of all.
Adamant that he’d dismissed the thought of quitting almost as quickly as it had entered his head, the Celtic manager added: ‘I think you take a moment. Had there been no break then I probably wouldn’t even have given it a thought. It was almost within 24 hours.’
Having fought for everything he’d earned in the game, the prospect of walking away after a bleak week just didn’t sit well with him.
‘Well that doesn’t look great, you know, it feels as if you’ve kind of given up,’ he said.
‘It was probably a moment of weakness [saying it], which I’ve got plenty of. But the overall thing was, I wanted to continue.
‘I didn’t consult too many people… family obviously. They did want me to continue anyway, regardless. They just wanted to see me working, I think.’
Dermot Desmond was pelted by tennis balls at St Andrews last week as Celtic fans protested
A few days spent with his nearest and dearest in sunnier climes certainly went a long way to replenishing his spirit. He’s good to go again.
‘Listen, we’ve all got families here and I hate bringing my family into it,’ O’Neill said. ‘But it genuinely was really nice. You know, I’ve got two daughters and they’ve got a daughter each, very, very young.
‘We were away for a few, few days. It wasn’t that long, but it was it was as good a holiday as I’ve had with family, you know.’
While O’Neill has enough credit in the bank for such a decision to be his, he knows how it works.
Celtic, plainly, cannot go back into the black hole they found themselves in the week when Ferencvaros were the meat in the sandwich of two Rangers games.
He has to urgently fix what went so badly wrong. He sincerely believes he can.
‘Absolutely. I think they can be fixed,’ he stressed. ‘I think there’s a long way to go in the season. I think there’ll be lots of twists and turns again.
‘Rangers, obviously, are physically very strong, and they’ve spent a lot of money in the transfer market. And they’re reaping the rewards of that at this minute.
‘And Hearts, you would never rule out, they are still very combative.
‘So, no, I still think there’s lots to play for. We’ve got a really hectic schedule ahead of us now at this minute.
‘That can be good. And maybe that’s the reason that I wanted other clubs to be involved in European football, so that they didn’t have the advantage of a whole week without playing. But listen, we treat the games that they come.
‘We’ve got that, we’ve got Benfica, and then we’ve got Hearts. So, that’s one week ahead of us.’
