Europe – “That, I’m afraid what it is all about,” Martin O’Neill tells Celtic

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The Celtic Star

·29 November 2025

Europe – “That, I’m afraid what it is all about,” Martin O’Neill tells Celtic

Martin O’Neill attended the Celtic AGM eight days ago and was clearly not expecting events to unfold the way that they did and having had some time to consider things, he’s now delivered his own message that must not be ignored…

Celtic AGM 2025. Photo The Celtic Trust

He’d of course been over the course and distance on this particular track on a handful of occasions at the start of the century so probably thought he’d be hearing about cold pies, no hot water in the toilets at Celtic Park (in 21st century) and maybe the odd remark or two about Rangers and referees.

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And while the Board made a hasty, some may saw cowardly dash for the ‘safety’ of the boardroom. they left O’Neill with the task of going before the video cameras to explain or at least comment on what was a shambles from start to finish.

He referred back to what Jock Stein might have thought and later came in for some criticism for ‘being on the board’s side’ possibly from some supporters too young to appreciate who was talking to them via the club’s own TV channel.

Celtic AGM 2025

Just an Ordinary Bhoy stated on The Celtic Star that the support should get off Martin’s back and give him the break that he clearly deserves. The truth though is that some else from Celtic should have fronted up and spoke after the AGM not a man who a few week’s earlier was only concerned with the price of a cup of coffee on the King’s Road in London.

That’s clearly been on Martin’s mind and in his final pre-match media conference as Celtic’s interim manager he took the opportunity to reflect on that afternoon and the events of the Celtic AGM which to many in the Celtic support remain completely unsatisfactory. So yesterday Martin had his say, and fair play to him for doing so.

Ross Desmond at Celtic AGM. 21 November 2025.Screenshot social media

“I’d like, having been brought into the AGM, I would like, in retrospect, for questions to be asked in a manner that would have made the board answer,” Martin O’Neill said.

“Whether that would have given the answers on that particular day I don’t know. I don’t know enough. What I do know is that Celtic, a Celtic united would be a far, far better club than one disunited. That’s obvious for anyone.

“It’s not really what Celtic is about, it’s not what Brother Walfrid brought in, and it’s certainly not what Jock Stein did. Jock Stein would have been the first one to say, ‘Sorry, boys, we’ve got to get this together. We’ve got to be unified.’” Martin O’Neill said yesterday afternoon at Lennoxtown.

And looking ahead to what’s next for Celtic he added: “What I think will happen. Celtic will come back, they will compete properly in Europe. We’ve all made mistakes, that (Europe) I think should be the aim of this football club.

“Yes, domestically we’ve been very, very strong but you want to be strong in European football because that’s what was said in 1967. That, I’m afraid what it is all about.

“Are we at this minute? We’re not, Midtjylland taught us a lesson. It was nice last night (in the 3-1 win over Feyenoord in Rotterdam) to restore some of that. That might be a sign, qualification, it would be nice to get through to the knock-out stage. It would be nice, it would be a start.

“Mark my words, we’ll be back to being properly involved in European football.”

Compare and contrast Martin’s words with the disgracefully defeatist remarks from Dermot Desmond delivered via his son Ross, who many supporters observed had no right to be allowed to speak from the head table at the AGM. The attack on the Celtic support was one thing, biting the hand that feeds you isn’t really the smartest idea, but if the support give it then we can expect to take some ourselves, so let that go.

Dermot Desmond and Peter Lawwell. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

The white flag that Desmond raised as far as competing in Europe is never enough. Celtic play in a league where the vast majority of teams know that they won’t won the league before a ball is kicked. St Mirren getting to a cup final and perhaps things going their way on the day is the absolute height of their ambition, and fair play to them.

Callum Davidson, St Johnstone manager with the League Cup. Photo: Andrew Milligan

Callum Davidson, St Johnstone manager with the Scottish cup. Photo: Alan Rennie

It’s the same with Motherwell, St Johnstone – who actually won two cups in one season not so long ago and the rest. Celtic can’t win the Champions League, Celtic supporters know that. But like the previously mentioned Saints we can with European cups. TheRangers just a few years ago took the Europa League Cup Final to penalties, for heaven’s sake.

James Tavernier of theRangers looks disappointed as he walk past the UEFA Europa League trophy following their sides defeat in the UEFA Europa League final match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Rangers FC at Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on May 18, 2022 in Seville, Spain. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

So the Desmonds throwing in the towel on behalf of Celtic is an absolute disgrace.

That more than anything else annoys me and clearly Martin O’Neill doesn’t want to be ‘walking into the sunset’ having any of that defeatist stigma associated with him from the Celtic AGM.

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