What goes on in Portugal is best kept out of the public eye. Not shared on You Tube after another week of failure at every level of Celtic.
He has no personality, no contacts and no knowledge of footballers and their worth. And for that skillset Celtic are paying out £17,000 a week.
O’Neill Version 1 from 2000 to 2005 would have been kicking up all sorts over watching a squad being taken apart with no sign of replacements coming in.
Typically O’Neill has decided to protect his CEO, blaming himself for the delay in appointing his trusted assistants. Not every fan will accept his explanation.
If he chooses to crack jokes about his age while praising the brilliance of ‘the owner’ he’ll discover that he isn’t immune from the anger of the Celtic support.
A four paragraph effort announced Maloney, Fotheringham and Stephen McManus as the backroom team. No mention of roles. No mention of Gavin Strachan’s successor.
Do Celtic expect O’Neill to talk up a youthful left-back as a Champions League prospect. To give Ross Doohan 90 minutes. Mention how Shin Yamada and Hayato Inamura have looked sharp in pre-season training?
It isn’t so much that he loves all things Ibrox, more that he detests Celtic. Every aspect of the club and especially the fans.
Dermot Desmond, Peter Lawwell and Michael Nicholson see things very differently. A transfer window is the chance to sell off performing players, bank a profit and hope for the best with some project signings from trusted sources.
Celtic have just written off £1m by releasing Stephen Welsh from his contract. There would be change out of £1m if that figure was used to pay Fotheringham and Maloney for one season.