Martin O'Neill returns again to Celtic at 73 - Who are the oldest managers currently at clubs in Europe?

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 6 Jan 2026 05:09 CST
• 4 min read

Analysis

Celtic fans have been through a rollercoaster of emotions this season and the latest chapter in the saga of this campaign has seen legendary boss Martin O'Neil return...again.

Tensions were high at the beginning of the campaign as the defending Scottish champions endured an extremely underwhelming transfer window, with Brendan Rodgers and the supporters at odds with the under-fire board.

Over the last two years, key players like Matt O'Riley, Kyogo Furuhashi and Nicolas Kuhn have been allowed to go on their merry way with no adequate replacements identified.

Kyogo, the club's starting striker, was sold last January and his backup, Adam Idah, was sold in the summer.

An example of the market malaise can be found in Celtic's striking options. Unproven, but certainly not young 25-year-old Shin Yamada, signed for just over £1 million, 22-year-old Johnny Kenny, prolific in Ireland but not in Scotland and 29-year-old injury-prone Kelechi Iheanacho, signed in the dying seconds on Deadline Day.

After a poor start to the season on the pitch, Brendan Rodgers left the club and was remarkably replaced by O'Neill.

The Irishman is beloved by Celtic fans due to his exploits in the early noughties, leading the club to a domestic treble in his first season and, of course, the UEFA Cup Final in Seville in 2003. In all, he won seven trophies in his time at Celtic Park.

He was brought in on an interim basis while the club apparently worked on a deal to bring in Columbus Crew coach Wilfried Nancy in as permanent manager.

Nancy was appointed and his short tenure was nothing short of an unmitigated disaster.

He took charge of eight matches and lost six including vital Scottish Premiership matches against rivals Hearts and Rangers as well as the League Cup final against St Mirren.

It was the 3-1 defeat against Rangers in the derby that proved to be the final straw as Nancy was sacked on Monday.

Incredibly, O'Neil has returned for a second spell this season and will be in charge until the end of the 2025/26 campaign.

He is now the older statesman in European football as the oldest active manager in, but who are some of the other veterans still in the dugout for club teams?

There are only two managers in Europe's major leagues who are over the age of 70 and that is O'Neill and Manuel Pellegrini of Real Betis.

Pellegrini has enjoyed a magnificent career and has managed some of the biggest clubs around in Man City and Real Madrid. He has been in charge of Betis since 2020.

There is only one manager in the Premier League in his sixties and that is Everton boss David Moyes at 62. The oldest manager in the history of the Premier League is Roy Hodgson, who returned for a stint at Crystal Palace between 2023 and 2024 when he was 75.

The Rome derbies this season will feature two veteran coaches in the dugout as 66-year-old Maurizio Sarri is in charge of Lazio and 67-year-old Gian Piero Gasperini is in charge of rivals Roma.

62-year-old Marco Baroni is also at the helm at Torino.

Rafa Benitez was recently appointed the head coach of Panathinaikos and this season he'll take on 64-year-old Olympiacos head coach Jose Luis Mendilibar for the title in Greece.

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