Moments after the tin lid was placed on a truly hideous week for Celtic with a home league defeat to Rangers, Martin O’Neill uttered some words which he later came to regret.
‘I genuinely will reflect and see,’ said the Northern Irishman when asked if he would consider his future. ‘It’s a matter of whether I can help the team. The manager is supposed to be able to do that. I will look at that this week.
‘I think every single time something crops up and things don’t go so well, age plays a part. And do you know what? They might be right. I’ll be 110 in two years’ time so it might be time to wrap it up.’
That was on September 20. Despite going into the international break on the back of two losses to Rangers and a reverse at home to Ferencvaros, with a capitulation away to LASK still in the background, O’Neill, as we know, came back for more.
The trouble is that the impasse changed very little. In the seven matches since, Celtic have won three and lost three.
The running total of clean sheets now stands at one in ten. If anyone feels that dismal sequence will improve when Besiktas come to town on Thursday, you can name your price.
With the next international break coming after Kilmarnock’s visit to Parkhead on Sunday, it feels like further self-reflection is imminent and more difficult conversations are about to take place behind the scenes.
If O’Neill and the club’s directors can identify a reason to feel that an upturn in fortunes is on the horizon, they will be in the minority.
Martin O’Neill can barely look as his Celtic side lost 2-0 to Falkirk on Sunday
In terms of results and performances, this is a team which is flatlining. It takes a leap of faith to believe that a radical improvement lies just around the corner.
For many Celtic supporters, reconciling themselves with the truth of the current situation is not easy.
In his first spell in charge at the turn of the century, O’Neill transformed their club from a laughing stock into Scotland’s dominant team and a European force to be reckoned with once again.
Last season, against all the odds, the veteran twice rode to the rescue to land an unlikely league and cup double.
Those who wished that the credits would then roll on the story of the legend’s great return have spent much of this campaign watching through the cracks in their fingers.
While O’Neill has unquestionably been the latest manager to suffer through the ineptitude of those who are supposedly running the show, nor can he be granted a free pass for what his side are routinely serving up.
The triumphs of the early 2000s and last season offer little shelter from the current storm.
Taken purely in isolation, Sunday’s loss to Falkirk could have been shrugged off as one of those unfortunate days by those stood in the visitors’ section.
The Celtic manager must wish he had quit after trophy triumph at end of last season
Celtic did have more possession than the Bairns (70.2 per cent). They had more touches inside the opposition box (44 v 15). They had more corners (14 v 0). They had more shots at goal (24 v 6). Scott Bain, the former Celtic keeper, did have a fine game.
The trouble is that the affair was no anomaly. O’Neill’s side are making a habit of showing up well in the metrics which don’t win you points and showing up badly in the only statistic which matters.
Attempting to accentuate the positives in the aftermath, the manager pointed out that the side was still better off than at this stage last year.
While this is statistically true in the Premiership — 28 points now as opposed to 26 in 2025 — that’s no cause for celebration.
Celtic were also still in the League Cup 12 months back. And after three games in the Europa League, the team had four points compared to zero being on the board at the same juncture this time. The dogs in the street know this is a team which is regressing.
O’Neill’s plea for patience in the case of new players requiring time to adapt to their new environment doesn’t cut any ice.
O’Neill’s legend at the club will never diminish but this term has been his most troubling
A club which welcomed 17 new faces in the summer, six of Falkirk’s outfield players on Sunday weren’t there last season — as opposed to three of the visitors. John McGlynn doesn’t seem to have the same issues getting lesser-paid individuals assimilated to his way of working.
There have been a couple of recurring themes to Celtic under O’Neill this season. With the ball, the players lack zip, imagination and penetration. Without it, they look meek and vulnerable.
Just as Dundee United did on Wednesday, McGlynn’s side repeatedly cut them open at the weekend.
The more glaring the shortcomings become, the more legitimate it is to question if the structure of the side and the tactical approach is all that it might be.
In the days when O’Neill was able to field a team containing the likes of Paul Lambert, Lubo Moravcik and Henrik Larsson, the manager didn’t have to fret about the minor details.
With his sheer presence giving a squad brimming with top-level players added psychological strength, Celtic invariably overpowered their opponents.
Cameron Carter-Vickers and Callum McGregor have both had their say on team’s tactics
Evidently, that embarrassment of riches no longer exists. Is O’Neill, at 74 years of age, capable of relaying the required tactical information to a much more limited group?
Is the correct detail forthcoming from his cadre of young coaches — Shaun Maloney, Mark Fotheringham and Stephen McManus? It’s certainly a moot point.
You could be forgiven for believing that the current crop of players have reservations about their level of tactical preparedness and the structure of the side.
Also speaking after that 1-0 loss to Rangers, Cameron Carter-Vickers claimed the team ‘played a bit too random.’
For one senior player to bemoan a lack of a plan was one thing. For another to question it set the alarm bells off.
Following the 2-2 draw with United, a match which initially saw O’Neill play two centre-forwards in Camilo Duran and Callum Osmand as wingers, skipper Callum McGregor opined that ‘the players behave like a winger, or they behave like a striker.’
He added: ‘You can get away with it for a few games, but if it’s a striker playing as a winger, you are going to get that behaviour a lot of the time.’
Over the weekend, James McClean, who played under O’Neill for Ireland, reprised the theme as he promoted his new book.
Celtic ran into an inspired Falkirk team, and a superb keeper in Scott Bain on Sunday
Recalling the bemusement of the raft of English Championship players who O’Neill called up, McClean offered: ‘Martin wasn’t big on tactics.’
Whatever accusations could justifiably be levelled at the manager and his coaching staff, those who hold them solely responsible for the current malaise are small in number.
Having got away with it — as Celtic did last season — a forward-thinking football club wouldn’t have gone back to the well by asking a septuagenarian to go again.
Not only did the Parkhead hierarchy predictably show a lack of vision by failing to appoint a younger manager with fresh ideas, they, again, failed O’Neill in the transfer market.
The selling of Arne Engels to West Ham on the eve of the season-defining clash with LASK was the latest dereliction of duty.
The six players signed in the final hours of the window — five of them loans — was the equivalent of a dash down the bargain aisle at closing time on Christmas Eve.
The board are still main target of fans, but O’Neill can’t escape all the blame for poor displays on pitch
O’Neill, notably, hasn’t gone public with his dismay at the hand he was dealt in the manner in which his predecessor, Brendan Rodgers, did. But if he’s happy to toe the party line, the responsibility for a failing football team falls squarely on his shoulders.
The heat around him could rise extremely quickly. Two years after making a commendable impact in the Champions League under Rodgers, by the end of this week, an emaciated squad could find itself propping up the 36-team Europa League table.
Whether that transpires or not, the level of acrimony which constantly surrounds the club these days seems set to increase.
For O’Neill, with each passing week, a return to the comfort of a radio studio must hold greater appeal.
