Simon Jordan believes Martin O'Neill should have stepped aside after last season. The Celtic boss is under fire after a disappointing run of results that has seen Celtic lose three straight games.
Two of those games have been Old Firm clashes, which certainly haven't helped O'Neill, and while he will not be sacked by the club, as has been confirmed by Michael Nicholson, he has hinted he may step aside if he feels as though he cannot fix the current issues.
The kicker is that some of the issues do not look fixable with the current personnel, so it may be a case of getting creative or getting out of Dodge
It's more likely than not that O'Neill stays, given no decision has been made by now, but there are doubts over whether the veteran boss still has what it takes to impact games, especially when the momentum has turned against his side.
According to former Crystal Palace owner turned pundit Jordan, O'Neill should have stepped aside after last season. He said on talkSPORT: "I think at the end of last season, Martin should have went upstairs and should have become the director of football, and he could have mentored in a new, young manager with energy to take the club forward.”
Asked if O'Neill would take a job upstairs at Celtic now or at the end of the season, Jordan added: "I don’t think he is, I don’t think Martin is in that space. So, I think what you are talking about is tokenism. Martin doesn’t want tokenism.
“What Martin could be involved in is a recruitment process that brings in a successor.”
It's too easy to say that now
It's simply too easy to say O'Neill should have done this or that. O'Neill had just won a league and cup double, and there was no reason to doubt his ability to do it again, especially after he got the best out of what was a struggling team.
And let's now act like a similar feat is still not possible. Celtic are two points clear of Rangers in the Premiership as things stand. There are clear issues at Parkhead currently, and some of them look serious, especially the lack of sufficient talent in the midfield, but Celtic are still in a good enough position to win the league again, winning all but one of their league games so far.
O'Neill also took the job under the understanding that his squad would be properly strengthened, and even a younger manager would likely have had a wobble by now, given the personnel issues.
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