Pundit Hugh MacDonald has recently made a claim about why Martin O’Neill wouldn’t want to replace Neil Lennon as the Celtic manager.
MacDonald was a guest on the latest episode of PLZ Soccer’s The Football Show and the panel discussed multiple issues involving the Bhoys and Scottish football. They talked about the possibility of O’Neill replacing Lennon as the manager and MacDonald doesn’t feel that this can happen.
It has been reported that Lennon ‘was shown the yellow card’ by the club’s board after their loss in the Old Firm derby. The likes of O’Neill, Roy Keane and Eddie Howe have also been contacted about potentially replacing Lennon. As things stand, the Hoops are backing Lennon.
Would you like O'Neill to replace Lennon?
Yes
No
MacDonald feels that 68-year-old O’Neill wouldn’t want to manage Celtic with Lennon’s ‘blood on the walls’.
He said: “On Martin O’Neill, I don’t see him coming to Celtic Park with Lenny’s blood on the walls. I don’t think that’s the kind of man he is, I really don’t and I don’t see that.”
TIF Thoughts on MacDonald’s comments regarding Martin O’Neill…
O’Neill has previously managed Celtic and he was at Parkhead for around four years. He had a pretty impressive points-per-match tally of 1.81 as well (as per Transfermarkt).
So he clearly knows what Celtic are about, as a club but having said that, his last managerial stint ended in June 2019 when he left Nottingham Forest. He was in charge of the club for only 19 matches (as per Transfermarkt).
It has been reported that some players at Forest didn’t enjoy working with O’Neill and he had a poor relationship with many important players at the club. So that isn’t really a good sign, if Celtic do want O’Neill to replace Lennon and perhaps they should drop this idea already.