´I´d happily have stayed on´ – O´Neill would have extended Celtic stay

Martin O’Neill would “happily have stayed on” at Celtic as their interim boss if they had asked him to remain in the dugout.

O’Neill, who also took charge of Celtic between 2000 and 2005, stepped in to replace Brendan Rodgers after his shock departure and oversaw eight games in all competitions.

He won seven of those eight matches (L1), including a victory over Old Firm rivals Rangers in the semi-finals of the Scottish League Cup, boasting an 87.5% win rate in his second spell.

His overall win percentage of 75.2% is the highest in Celtic’s history (won 194 of 258 games).

O’Neill left after a 1-0 victory over Dundee on December 3, with Wilfried Nancy appointed as the permanent manager, though the Frenchman has lost all three of his matches so far, including a shock 3-1 defeat to St. Mirren in the Scottish League Cup final.

Asked if he wanted to lead Celtic out for the showpiece, O’Neill told Talksport: “Only if asked.

“That was not a driving force. I’d happily have stayed on.

“If they had asked me to stay on, I would’ve done so, but the minute that they said, ‘no, that’s your time’, that was fine by me.”

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— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) December 14, 2025

Nancy is already under pressure after back-to-back home defeats against Hearts and Roma in the Scottish Premiership and the Europa League preceded the loss to St. Mirren.

But O’Neill says Celtic fans need to give the Frenchman time to get his first win under his belt.

“I stepped into the job, [major shareholder] Dermot [Desmond] had said to me, he said, ‘You could be in it two weeks or two months, we’re looking for someone’,” O’Neill added.

“When you get into it, you really enjoy it. You enjoy winning, that’s the point – this is what it’s about.

“You’ve just got to win, you’ve got to win. You’ve got to steady it again.

“There’s some excellent players at the football club. It is recoverable, of course. You’re at the football club for 10 or 12 days.

“You cannot make a judgement on anybody over three games. The matches were difficult. You have got to give a manager some time.”