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Martin O’Neill says he was given 10 minutes “to make up his mind” about whether he would return celtic after Brendan Rodgers’ sudden resignation Monday night.
More than two decades after his first stint as Hoops manager, The 73-year-old took charge on an interim basis With former player Sean Maloney.
Describing his current feelings as “nervous excitement”, his first act would be against falkirk on Wednesday before renewal old firm hostilities with Rangers in a decisive League Cup semi-final on Sunday.
limit of Rift in Rodgers’ relationship with Dermot Desmond was revealed in Sharp statement from major shareholderBut O’Neill clearly felt a sense of duty to the Irish businessman when he answered his call, and agreed to the return requested by the man who first gave him the manager’s job at Parkhead 24 years earlier.
“I wondered sometimes during my career whether I really enjoyed it,” O’Neill said. “And maybe I’m too sad to enjoy it. But now, at this mature age, I’m going to try to enjoy it.
“But the only way I will, the only way I’ve ever lived it, is to actually try to win football games.
“So from that point of view, I had no… well, let me say no hesitation. I was only given 10 minutes to make up my mind. And so I had to do it in that time. So I have no problem with that.
“I go back to the guy who actually gave me the first job 25 years ago when, in all honesty, at that level, there were a lot of big, big names, bigger names than me, vying for that job. And it was a real honor to manage a football club. And so from that point of view, I’m OK.”
“People were shocked by it. I had assumed there would be nothing for anyone until the end of the season. I was asked if I would come in and hold the proceedings until they found a permanent manager. I had 10 minutes to make up my mind, which I did.”
O’Neill insisted his involvement with Celtic would be purely temporary and admitted he could be out of the job on Thursday if Celtic could not beat Scottish Premiership new boys Falkirk in their first game.
“They could have a new manager in two weeks’ time,” he said. “If we don’t win on Wednesday evening, we might get a new manager on Thursday.
“So I don’t know, and it’s not good news for Shawn to hear, because he was expecting me to last a month.
“Celtic will be looking for a young manager coming in with a very good CV.”
Maloney, previously a player and manager of Wigan Athletic, also insisted that a permanent role at Parkhead was not on his radar, having been temporarily promoted from his role as player pathways manager.
“I actually came back here in a role with the board and then with Brendan,” he said.
“So at this current time, no. I’m going to try my best to support Martin and the players but I’m similar to Martin, to be interim and then I’ll go back to my role.”
Additional reporting from PA