Martin O’Neill said he is “delighted” to be back at Celtic as manager until the end of the season after he was appointed interim boss for the second time this year
Celtic have re-appointed club legend Martin O’Neill for the second time this season after sacking Wilfried Nancy.
The club previously won seven of their eight games under O’Neill’s previous interim reign before Nancy took over in December.
But Saturday’s derby defeat at the hands of Rangers was the Frenchman’s sixth loss during his brief reign and the board announced on Monday that his time was up.
They later announced O’Neill, 73 – appointed interim gaffer in October after Brendan Rodgers departed the club – will take over for the rest of the season.
He told club media: “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.
“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.”
O’Neill, who won seven trophies with Celtic from 2000-05 and lead them to a UEFA Cup final, will again be assisted by Shaun Maloney, Mark Fotheringham and Stephen McManus.
Celtic, champions in 13 of the past 14 seasons, currently sit second in the Scottish Premiership, six points behind Hearts and ahead of Rangers on goals scored.
Majority shareholder Dermot Desmond, a target of fan anger amid growing unrest at Parkhead this year, said: “I am pleased to welcome Martin back to Celtic.
“We know exactly what he will bring and we hope that he can do what he has done for us before, giving us that drive and direction as we move into the next part of the season.
“We all know about his proven track record with the club and hope he can bring us similar success going forward. When we appointed Wilfried to the role of manager, clearly we thought we could enjoy a successful period under his control.
“Unfortunately this did not work out in the way we would have liked, and while he and the club are disappointed with the recent period, I want to take this opportunity to wish him well in all he does going forward.”
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