Martin O'Neill is here to stay, and Celtic fans must now play their part. The veteran boss has said he is staying at the club for now despite flirting with the idea of walking away, and that is good news for everyone at the club.
There are few good options out there currently, and there are none who know this club and its fans like O'Neill. The Bhoys need a calm head to guide them through a season that will see them have to work for it due to recruitment gaps the club created in the summer.
O'Neill said he would consider his position over the international break, which lasted three weeks, and just four days before Celtic return to action against Motherwell, on Sunday, O'Neill has confirmed his stay.
What O'Neill has said
He told Celtic TV: “We had a difficult week, and that can happen. You can lose to your arch rivals or you can lose a European game but it’s certainly not the end of the world as it seemed to be described as.
“I did think I would take a little bit of time and it didn’t take me that much time to think about it.
I want to lead the club, I want to try and win the league, which is what we’ve we set out to do, and I’m just as determined now as ever before.
“It was a time of reflection for a moment or two, and some things that you think about, but overall, I’m back, I’m raring to go, and the team’s ready.
“We have to try and win football matches. This is what the club is based on, and what I base my managerial career on. You have to win games.
“That’s easier said than done, like anything else, but we have to remind ourselves that we’re actually two points clear at this moment in the league, and that’s not a bad start. It’s very, very early. Absolutely nothing is over by third week in September, although it seemed from all angles that it was.
“The players here who are back, the non-international players who have trained with us, there’s a good spirit about it, and I think this is the most important thing. There is a really good spirit among the players.”
Celtic fans must do their part
Celtic need to leave this feeling of crisis behind, and they are not going to do it without the help of supporters. It's time for the team to knuckle down and pull through this tricky run, and they need the fans to get behind them.
There are plenty of reasons for fans to be frustrated, be it with the board or the team. The lack of effort and fight in those Rangers games was hard to stomach. But such performances need to be met with a sense of bite from the fans.
It needs to be a case of firing up this team rather then the sighs we heard too often at Parkhead in that second derby. There was an expectant nature to the whole game, and the stands were no exception.
That's not a criticism. It's mightily hard not to give that reaction when your team shows a lack of fight for the second straight derby, which is only one week after the first. But now that the break is over, now that O'Neill and the team are promising to knuckle down, it's time forget about all that and will this team to better things.
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