Martin O’Neill bemoans ‘really sad morning’ as Celtic AGM ends prematurely

Gavin McCafferty

Martin O’Neill felt Celtic’s abandoned annual general meeting was “as sad a morning” he had seen as he bemoaned a lack of unity at the club.

The interim manager received sustained applause and cheers as he was introduced to shareholders but the rest of the meeting was characterised by hostility between directors and fans.

The meeting was temporarily adjourned less than five minutes in amid chants of “sack the board”.

And it was ultimately closed early as shareholders reacted to a statement from director Ross Desmond, son of the club’s biggest shareholder Dermot, which accused a section of fans of being “bullies”.

However, O’Neill is convinced the disconnect can be repaired with the help of a new manager, whose appointment he hinted might not be far off.

The 73-year-old said: “I thought it was a really sad, sad morning, really sad morning. I just wonder what the great Jock Stein would have thought of it all, who preached unity at the football club, said that a club not united would never be successful.

“It’s as sad a morning as I’ve seen. I mean I’ve been to a few of these AGMs before and I suppose because we’ve been doing well at the time that it was nice. Not even sure I was ever asked a question in them at the time. But that was rather raucous.

“There were people who would have wanted to ask questions and the board have said that they’ve made mistakes.

“There’s only so many times that you can apologise and then you have to get on with things again. So we’ll start again and hopefully that will start when the new manager comes in.

“A united Celtic will be far better equipped to compete and try and win again.”

Fans have been campaigning for change following difficulties in the summer transfer window and the failure to qualify for the Champions League.

And the Desmond statement has arguably taken relations to the lowest point since O’Neill’s initial arrival in 2000 kicked off a period of sustained success for the club.

But the Northern Irishman believes unity is achievable.

“It shouldn’t be impossible, really it should not be impossible,” he said. “There’s got to be a coming together again from this. There’s an obvious disconnect at this minute, but that surely can be rectified.

“You asked me a question, would my interim period fuse things together? I don’t think that was ever going to happen.

“But you’ve got to now realise that that has happened, mistakes have been made, and they can be rectified and hopefully rectified quickly.

“If I’d got an opportunity, I would probably be saying what I’m saying here, so I wish now I had said a few words.

“Listen, my words don’t go down all that well in my own household, so I don’t think it would really make much difference.”

O’Neill was unsure whether the 4-0 win over Kilmarnock before the international break would be his final game in charge and betting on Brendan Rodgers’ successor was suspended amid reports that Celtic were closing in on Columbus Crew manager Wilfried Nancy.

But Celtic updated on Tuesday that O’Neill and Shaun Maloney would remain in charge ahead of Saturday’s trip to face St Mirren.-