Martin O'Neill addresses his Celtic return as board break silence on Wilfried Nancy sacking
O’Neill ‘honoured’ as he returns to Parkhead role
Martin O'Neill is “honoured” to have returned as Celtic manager following the sacking of Wilfried Nancy.
The 73-year-old, who won seven out of eight matches as interim manager between the resignation of Brendan Rodgers in October and the appointment of Nancy in December, will remain in charge until the end of the season.
O'Neill will be supported by the same coaching team who worked under him during his successful caretaker reign with Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham installed as assistants.
Stephen McManus will also step up from the B team to join existing coaches Gavin Strachan, Stevie Woods and Greg Wallace in the first-team set-up.
Nancy was sacked on Monday along with his assistants Kwame Ampadu, Jules Gueguen, and Maxime Chalier after losing six of his eight matches, culminating in Saturday’s 3-1 Old Firm derby defeat to Rangers at Parkhead. Head of football operations Paul Tisdale - the man who hired Nancy - has also been dismissed.
Returning Celtic boss O’Neill said: “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.
“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.”
Brian Wilson, Celtic’s Interim Chairman, added: "The way things worked out for Wilfried Nancy is an intense disappointment, not least from a purely human perspective. We wish him and his family well.
"By bringing Martin back to the club, we look forward with confidence, giving the team real focus for the challenges ahead. He is a manager the players, staff and supporters know well, with a peerless reputation in football and a deep commitment to Celtic.
"The immediate priority is to get back to winning ways and while today's events do not address every issue, I would appeal for unity within the stadium to create the best possible environment for the manager and team to launch the fight-back."
Celtic chief executive Michael Nicholson, who assured Nancy of his "absolutely solid" backing after the 3-1 defeat to St Mirren in the Premier Sports Cup final last month, said: "We are very pleased to welcome Martin back to Celtic as manager until the end of the season and we will give him and the rest of our management team every support as we address the challenges we face during the second half of the season.
"Having spoken to Martin, I know he is excited again to be with us and very committed to doing everything he can, along with Shaun and the other coaches, to deliver the success we all know he can bring.
“Wilfried is someone who we will always respect, and while it is unfortunate that things did not work out, we certainly offer him our best wishes and hope that he can once again achieve success in his future roles.”
Celtic’s principal shareholder, Dermot Desmond added: “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 clu
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