Terminado? Nicholson given brutal warning as Spiers sends out O’Neill distress signal

The question as stated above is simple: might Martin O’Neill get so frustrated with this current Celtic imbroglio over contracts that he simply walks away?

Heads back down to London, to peace and quiet, maybe some fresh media work, safe in the knowledge that he has already elevated the modern Celtic once more?

I will hazard this guess…that O’Neill is deeply frustrated by the goings-on at Celtic this summer, to a point of near-despair.

Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham, his two trusted assistants, both highly valued by O’Neill, were asked to come back and take up the reins on reduced terms.

This is quite the temerity by Celtic, to ask the men who helped land last season’s unlikely Double, to come back on wage-cuts. It also seems to me a sheer disrespect for O’Neill, the architect of Celtic’s most recent success, to treat his valued assistants in this way.

NEGOTIATIONS DRAGGING ON/ LOWBALLING- HAS O’NEILL HAD ENOUGH?

The saga of Maloney’s and Fotheringham’s new contracts has dragged on and on. Right now, at the time of writing, they are still unresolved, even while the Celtic squad is just days away from returning for pre-season.

Dermot Desmond, the significant shareholder who historically has done so much for Celtic, is the man behind it all. Desmond has proved hard to budge on what he believes to be the unfair financial demands being made by Maloney and Fotheringham.

Perhaps Celtic believed they had a strong hand in this process. Perhaps the club believed that Maloney and Fozzy were so keen on the job, so excited to be returning to Celtic for one more campaign with O’Neill, that they would take any half-decent terms to come back.

But Maloney, especially, was not having it. He has played hardball over what he believes his real worth is.

And he has one very strong card to play. Shaun knows that Martin O’Neill truly values his presence.

Might Martin himself despair of all this? As this all meanders on might he be tempted to think: “I’m out of here. I don’t need all the stress and hassle.”?

In recent years O’Neill’s life in London had been sweet. He was still in demand, still doing media work, still selling-out theatre In Conversations when he wanted to. Away from Celtic, life wasn’t just easier, it was very good.

WHAT IS THE STATE OF THE O’NEILL/ DESMOND DYNAMIC?

The Celtic manager also has a problem: he is between a rock and hard place.

I’m pretty sure Martin has a load of sympathy for Maloney and Fotheringham. In fact, I am convinced of it. It is impossible to read every public utterance Martin has made about the pair and not grasp his deep appreciation for what they bring.

Martin O’Neill knows that his two erstwhile assistants thoroughly deserve decent and proportionately lucrative new one-year deals.

But Martin also knows that he owes a debt to Dermot Desmond.

It might be hard, in MON’s entire managerial career, to find a more significant or beneficial figure than Desmond.

When Celtic were all set to hand Guus Hiddink the job back in June 2000, it was Desmond who stepped in at the eleventh hour, unconvinced, and handed the job to O’Neill.

That moment, taking MON from Leicester City to Celtic, proved pivotal. O’Neill was suddenly at a huge club, playing Champions League football, and receiving fresh recognition all over Europe. His credentials, already established at Leicester, rocketed.

Desmond was even a significant mover in O’Neill landing the Ireland job in 2014. It was DD, according to O’Neill in his recent autobiography, who set up the meeting between MON and John Delaney, then the Republic of Ireland CEO, to thrash out a deal.

So O’Neill knows he owes Dermot a lot. And while Martin might be pissed off about Celtic’s treatment of his two assistants, there is also a part of him that can hardly go to war with DD, the man who has embossed his career.

ANOTHER CELTIC TERMINADO LOOMING?

There is, of course, one irony here, which is that O’Neill and Maloney do not always view the way football should be played in the same way.

Maloney is a possession-based coach, a disciple of Brendan Rodgers’ football method, with all its intricate patterns.

O’Neill prefers football played more front-foot, attacking intent, quicker to the final third and far, far less backwards or sideways passing.

As Celtic are playing goal-kicks out from the back, passing the ball dangerously among defenders in order to beat the modern press, O’Neill is looking on and wincing. He realises it is the way modern football has evolved but he could very easily go without it.

Indeed, there were times last season when O’Neill, on the touchline, ordered Viljami Sinisalo to ignore the routine drills of the past few days in training and simply boot the ball up the park. He’d seen enough.

So O’Neill and Maloney are by no means the perfect bend. Their footballing philosophies contrast. But each brings enough to the other – and inspires the other – to make Celtic a winning ticket.

Why would Celtic seek to rip this formula up, for the sake, in truth, of not a huge amount of dough? The money the club was seeking to save on Maloney and Fotheringham’s salaries was not even half the amount of a modest transfer fee Celtic might pay for a new player.

It has seemed a senseless drama.

If Celtic don’t resolve this soon, a brassed-off O’Neill might well think it is time he stepped away.

The clock is ticking. Celtic desperately need to announce a resolution.

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