It took a while but Celtic finally made the right call this evening when they announced the sacking of Wilfried Nancy.
It had been clear for a while that the French manager was out of his depth at Parkhead and it would have been ideal if the decision had been taken more swiftly. It is what it is though. All we can do now is look towards the future.
And the future is the past. Martin O’Neill has been brought in for a third spell at Celtic, and the second time this very season. He has been handed the job until the end of the campaign.
It is the right decision. O’Neill did win seven out of his eight games during his interim charge earlier in the campaign, but all that good work has been undone by Nancy’s nightmare stint in the job. Now, the club legend is staring at another mountain to climb. Can he deliver another league title for the Hoops?
Even if he does, O’Neill is not going to be the long-term answer. In fact, Dermot Desmond has already shared with the Northern Irishman what he is looking for in the next Celtic manager.
Martin O’Neill shares what Dermot Desmond has told him about next Celtic manager
As reported by the Daily Record, O’Neill said about his conversation with Desmond:
“Essentially the same. It might be a longer period; the conversation I had with Dermot was (about) going through to the end of the season, giving the football club time to really look around and get someone in who is going to be in for the next three or four years. But, I am in the football business – I might not see it through to the end of the season, you have to win football matches.”
So, Celtic are going to look for a long-term manager for the next three or four years at the end of the season. That is what most fans would have imagined the plan to be. The club could not afford to make another poorly thought-out appointment, like the one with Nancy. O’Neill was the safest choice. So, they went for it.
What are they thinking in the long run, though? Most would be happy if they could convince Ange Postecoglou to make a return. By the summer, he will have had enough time to rest after his Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest sackings.