Former Premier League midfielder turned pundit Danny Murphy believes Martin O'Neill may regret what he said after his side lost to Rangers before the international break. O'Neill gave an emotional media address after his side lost their third straight game and their second Old Firm in the space of a week.
He suggested that he could walk away from his Celtic post if he reflected on his side's performances during the break and decided he was not able to fix the issues.
Some of those issues have been created by decisions made by others, namely the clumsy summer transfer window put together by the board, but it still comes down to O'Neill to find solutions, and he has struggled to do that over recent weeks.
We now know that O'Neill is not walking away, confirming on Wednesday that he would be staying put. He sounded optimistic about his side's chances and admitted that they have been through a tough time after the disappointing run of results.
Speaking on TalkSport, Murphy suggested that O'Neill will have regretted hinting that he could leave. He said: "He wears his heart on his sleeve, he always has.
"He's quite spicy and says what he thinks. And maybe sometimes you can't hold back and you say something that with reflection you think, 'Maybe I should've dealt with that differently.'"
O'Neill will not be overly bothered
O'Neill is a pretty open book at this stage of his career. He will know that his comments whipped up something of a storm, and on reflection, given he decided to stay, he may wish that he hadn't bothered saying anything at all.
But with all things considered, O'Neill has the credit in the bank to be honest and not have to deal with any major consequences. He has always said that he won't stay in the job if he doesn't feel he is the best person to do it, and he is staying true to that.
Fans will appreciate his honesty, and if anything, it may increase the level of support he gets. The potential of O'Neill leaving may well have forced Celtic fans to realise that their options outside of the veteran boss really aren't very good, so they had better do their part in this team getting back to good form.
Nobody wants a repeat of last season, when Celtic brought in a manager who was not ready for the job midway through the season - a decision that very nearly cost the club a chance at success.
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