‘Supply teacher’ O’Neill insists Celtic need signings

Martin O’Neill, who will be returning as interim manager, has no doubts about Celtic’s need to improve.

After a miserable eight-game suspension for Wilfried Nancy, the 73-year-old is returning to the club just one month after his first caretaker role ended.

The legendary Celtic boss, who has been in charge until the end of the season, returns to the Parkhead outfit, six points adrift of Hearts, the Scottish Premiership’s top team.

After a turbulent first half, he claims Celtic “definitely need to supplement” the squad for a successful campaign.

There have been questions about how Celtic will approach their January recruitment given that Paul Tisdale’s departure came with the news of Nancy’s sacking.

Julian Araujo, a right-back from Bournemouth, made his debut off the bench against Rangers on Saturday, winning 3-1.

Major fan bases across the organization have protested against the club’s board throughout the campaign due to Celtic’s summer transfer activity.

O’Neill revealed that Maloney, who recently rejoined him on his coaching staff along with Mark Fotheringham and Stephen McManus, has “been working in the background on certain things” regarding recruitment.

The caretaker boss says he may need Maloney and Fotheringham’s judgment, but he ultimately wants to make up his mind about signing new players.

O’Neill remarked, “We need the players in as soon as possible.”

“I would anticipate it to be busy,” the board member said, “but we would have about 56 players.” It’s difficult to buy players during this difficult window.

O’Neill expressed sympathy for Nancy, who has been in charge of Celtic since having only 33 days on the job.

After O’Neill had won seven of his eight matches as interim manager, the Frenchman, who faced harsh criticism for sticking to a 3-4-3 system, lost six of his eight matches in charge.

The Northern Irishman, who served as Celtic’s first manager from 2000 to 2005, acknowledged that he will be subject to the same pressure as Nancy if he fails to deliver.

O’Neill insists that he will “not have any excuses” as he strives to help Celtic reach a successful season-end.

“You have to fight back after suffering,” the saying goes. he claims. I would have assumed that you would try to close the gap.

Rangers have moved forward with us. We are in a fight right now. We have a challenging task ahead of us. There are still 18 [league] games left.

O’Neill claims that his immediate return is “every bit as strange” as it was a month ago, but that “deep down I wanted to do it”

He joked that he would turn 112 when he turned 18 when he was still alive.

O’Neill is not giving it any thought, despite being offered an extension after the campaign’s conclusion.

He asserts, “Who knows what the board might think?”