O'Neill admits 'it might be time' to quit as Celtic manager after brutal Rangers loss

20 Sept 2026 20:01 BST | 4 min read

Suraj Radia | Editor

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Martin O’Neill has admitted he will consider his future at Celtic after his side’s 1-0 home loss to rivals Rangers in the Old Firm derby on Sunday.

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Having lost 3-0 to Rangers last week in the Scottish League Cup, Celtic suffered their third straight defeat in all competitions with another poor result against their rivals to pile the pressure on O’Neill.

Although the Scottish Premiership champions are still top of the table, having won every previous match, the level of performances have come under scrutiny and O’Neill revealed he would speak to the board over his future.

"I genuinely will reflect and see," O’Neill said after the loss. "It's a matter of whether I can help the team. The manager is supposed to be able to do that. I will look at that this week.

"I think every single time something crops up and things don't go so well, age plays a part. And, do you know what, they might be right. I'll be 110 in two years' time so it might be time to wrap it up.

"I will reflect on the games and speak to the board. You never know, they may well want to speak to me. I'll try to get a couple of days away and see how it goes."

O’Neill accepts fan criticism after devastating Celtic loss

Rangers, who had no away fans at Celtic Park due a ban following crowd trouble in the fixture last season, scored their only goal through a first half strike from Ryan Naderi, with O’Neill’s side never looking as though they would get back into the match.

🔊 LISTEN: “I genuinely will reflect and see. It’s a matter of whether I can help the team”.

🍀 Celtic boss Martin O’Neill says he will reflect on his future over the international break ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/OqcnbAldHj
— Clyde 1 Superscoreboard (@ClydeSSB) September 20, 2026

O’Neill was appointed as permanent manager at the end of last season, having led Celtic to the title across two interim spells during the campaign, but the 74-year-old has come under fire from fans, to which he insisted he understood.

“Well, I think they’re absolutely entitled,” O’Neill said when asked about fan criticism. “I’m not immune from criticism. Far from it. Absolutely and utterly far from it.

“I think there’s every reason to ask, ‘can you turn this round? Can you change the whole thing?’ We are, as I said, two points clear, so I have to kind of look at the bigger picture at this minute.

“But I knew that we were in a big, big fight anyway, with both ourselves, Rangers, and Hearts again, who are far from out of anything.

“It’s a long season ahead. It’s not the first time I’ve been questioned about my managerial time. So, yeah, I’ll have a look at it. I will reflect and see.”