Official: Celtic appoint Martin O'Neill after Wilfried Nancy sacking

Tom Weber

• 5 Jan 2026 15:29 CST
• 3 min read

News

Celtic have re-appointed Martin O'Neill as manager following Wilfried Nancy's sacking.

The 73-year-old has officially returned to Celtic for the second time this season, just 33 days after being replaced by Nancy. O'Neill took interim charge of the Parkhead club following Brendan Rodgers' resignation, and he is now back once again.

Nancy was sacked by Celtic earlier on Monday, off the back of a hugely disappointing 3-1 defeat to Rangers at the weekend, which not only allowed the Ibrox club to go level on points with the Celts, it also snapped a 152-game streak of scoring first and not losing.

The defeat to Rangers was the sixth in Nancy's eight games in charge, a dire run of fixtures that also included St. Mirren's shock upset in the League Cup final. His dismissal was inevitable following the match at the weekend.

Now, Celtic have announced that O'Neill will once again lead the team, having managed to stabilise results in his first interim spell earlier this season. The Northern Irishman has signed on until the end of the season for what will be his third tenure with the Glasgow giants.

O'Neill back again

“I am really pleased, in fact, very honoured to be asked back to manage the team again and I am looking forward to getting back to work again with the players," O'Neill is quoted as saying.

“I know we would all have hoped for things to have worked out differently under Wilfried and I personally want to wish him good luck with everything he does in the game. He is a fine man and I am sure he will go on and achieve success again, I have no doubt of that.

“For me, I've been asked to take this great job on again and my focus will be to try and get us back to winning ways if we can. We will need everyone right behind us.

“We still have a lot to look forward to and a lot to try and achieve, and myself, Shaun and the coaching staff and, of course, the players will be giving everything to achieve all the success we can for the club.”

In his first interview back, O'Neill added: “I’m obviously very pleased and privileged to be back at the football club, but in circumstances like this, with Wilfried leaving the club, that just seems a wee bit strange at this moment.

“We know we’re in a big fight. We’re going to try and win the league. It won’t be easy, although it never is, but we’re halfway through the season, we’ve got a big fight on our hands, so we have to be up to the challenge.”

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