Celtic back O'Neill to continue despite 'painful' run of form

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FT Desk

Celtic have given Martin O'Neill a vote of confidence despite a damaging few weeks for the Scottish champions.

On Sunday, the Hoops suffered their first league defeat of the campaign but it came at the hands of arch-rivals Rangers, who won 1-0 at Celtic Park.

The week prior, Rangers also eliminated them from the League Cup with a comprehensive 3-0 victory at Ibrox.

Following the loss on Sunday, O'Neill admitted it may be time for him to step aside.

"I genuinely will reflect and see," he said, later adding a joke about his age.

"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."

Rumours circulated that the Irishman may look to step aside during the current international break, though he certainly won't be sacked anytime soon, judging by CEO Michael Nicholson's recent comments.

On Tuesday, Celtic published their financial results for the last year which included a £33 million drop in revenue from the previous year. The Scottish champions have failed to qualify for the Champions League league phase for two seasons in a row.

"Having started well in the Premiership this season, we experienced disappointment in the Champions League play-off," said Nicholson in a written statement alongside the financial results.

"Reaching the league phase of the Champions League is an objective for us all, and we are sorry not to have achieved it.

"On top of that, the losses in the last week have been painful for us all. We will now come together and support Martin and the players, as we focus our efforts on achieving success domestically and in the Europa League."

Celtic were in a great position to qualify for the Champions League as they went into their second-leg playoff with a 3-0 lead against LASK held from the first leg. However, it was a catastrophic capitulation in the second leg as they were knocked out after a 5-1 loss.

They even took the lead in the second leg, but were eliminated 5-4 on aggregate.

Despite recent shortcomings, they do still hold a two-point lead at the Scottish Premiership over Rangers in second place.