Martin O’Neill has confirmed that his final game in charge of Celtic will be against Dundee, with the appointment of Wilfrid Nancy expected soon.
O’Neill, 73, returned to the Celtic dugout in October, 20 years after he was first in charge at Parkhead, following the resignation of Brendan Rodgers.
He was expected to leave after Sunday’s 2-1 win against Hibs but has the chance to go top of the Hoops’ Premiership with a win against Dundee if Hearts slip away at home to Kilmarnock.
Sunday, December 7, 2:30 p.m
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“You’ll be relieved to know that’s definitely it for tomorrow night, so I’m assured by the board of that,” O’Neill said.
“A young gentleman enters and it’s over for him.
“But obviously, we’ve got a big, big game tomorrow night and obviously, I’d like to try to win it if we can.”
“It won’t be easy. Dundee did this a few weeks ago, so we have a bit of work on our hands.”
Celtic won all four of their Premiership games under the Northern Irishman and also beat Rangers to reach this month’s League Cup final.
They are now two points off leaders Hearts with a game in hand after trailing by eight before Rodgers’ departure.
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Highlights from the Scottish Premiership clash between Hibernian and Celtic
“The nice thing about the players is that they have responded and shown a willingness to try and implement some of the things that I think are important in the game,” added the Northern Irishman.
“That’s really it. Some might have even hesitated to do it, I don’t know. Just kidding.”
“Obviously they were brilliant and I couldn’t praise them enough.
“For me, we have one more game ahead of us. They have big, big matches ahead of them, and those games are really important to them. The response was great.”
Sutton: Nancy has to run after O’Neill’s master class
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Sky Sports’ Chris Sutton on the job done by Martin O’Neill at Celtic, and the task at hand for Wilfried Nancy
Since taking over from Brendan Rodgers, O’Neill has seen the gap to leaders Hearts close from eight points adrift to just two with a game in hand.
The Hoops are also in the League Cup final after beating Rangers and could still qualify for the next round of the Europa League after a 3-1 win away to Feyenoord.
Speaking further Ski Sportsformer Celtic striker Chris Sutton said: “Martin took over a team that lacked confidence. There were performance issues all season.
“If he had lost a few games and things had gone badly, people would have said ‘he’s not for the job, he should never have come back’.”
“I was worried about his legacy, because of my relationship with him, but I’m absolutely thrilled for him.”
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MLS expects Tom Bogert assesses Wilfried Nancy’s impact and tells Celtic fans what to expect from ‘defining manager’
Asked what O’Neill’s impressive run of results means for Nancy, Sutton added: “Any passing win will really put pressure on him because everyone will be expecting Wilfred Nanci to come in with a team that looks to have more confidence and hit the ground running.”
“It won’t take long to turn things around, with Martin doing so well. I think it’s really difficult for him because it’s three games a week and there’s no real time to work on the pitch.
“If he plays a back three, which is obviously the way he plays at Columbus Crew, to come in and apply that – I don’t think it’s easy.
Upcoming matches of Celtic
- Dundee (H) – Scottish Premiership – Wednesday
- Hearts (H) – Scottish Premiership – Sunday – live on Ski Sports
- Roma (H) – Europa League – December 11
- St Mirren (N) – League Cup Final – 14 December
- Dundee United (A) – Scottish Premiership – 1 December – live on Sky Sports
- Aberdeen (H) – Scottish Premiership – 21 December