“It’s just not a great situation to be in,” Martin O’Neill on away fan ban | OneFootball

Martin O’Neill spoke to the mainstream media at Lennoxtown this afternoon ahead of tomorrow’s Scottish Premiership fixture away to St Mirren…

Martin O’Neill, Manager of Celtic, looks on before the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Aberdeen at Celtic Park on September 02, 2026 . (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

A reminder that the Celtic fan media remains banned by the club pending a fabled review that never happened…

8th March 2026; Ibrox; Scottish Cup, Rangers versus Celtic; Celtic fans fill the Broomloan stand. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Martin, can we get your take on the announcement from the last few minutes? That there will be no Celtic vs Rangers visiting fans for the derby fixture this season?

Martin O’Neill: “I think that was inevitable, really, after Rangers were offering 300 tickets, and I think we refused that. And I think it was just inevitable that that’s the decision that the powers that be would make, eventually, or make for them. Really sad, I must admit, from a normal punter’s viewpoint. It’s still a great fixture. I’ve said this on a few times. I still looked forward to it when I wasn’t involved. Yeah, really sad.”

Scottish Cup, Rangers versus Celtic; Celtic fans huddle. 8th March 2026. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: You’ve always said you want away fans at both grounds, do you think we’ve now got to a point that there may never be?

Martin O’Neill: “Hopefully that won’t happen at some stage or another. Maybe we might all see some sort of sense and see that this particular fixture, which is one of the greats in European football, if not the world, honestly. I keep saying this regardless of the calibre of the teams playing in the game. It’s a great, great fixture, and it loses a great deal with the big allocation of away fans not being in the stadium. So really, yeah, really disappointing, but we’ll see what develops over this season.”

8th March 2026; Ibrox; Scottish Cup

Rangers versus Celtic; Celtic supporters celebrating. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Martin, given your first answer when you said that Rangers only offered 300, do you think the situation is avoidable then?

Martin O’Neill: “If that was the case, then I think there was an inevitability that we would just say, well, what’s the point of having 300 tickets?”

Q: How do you think it gets resolved?

Martin O’Neill:  “Gosh, how will it get resolved? I think hopefully the two clubs will maybe get together at some stage or another and try and iron out particular problems. I mean, it’s not to say that we haven’t had a few problems in the past, but they seem to have escalated over the last number of seasons, which is a problem.”

8th March 2026; Ibrox; Scottish Cup Football, Rangers versus Celtic; Celtic fans celebrate. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Do you think there’s any reason, we were just discussing it there, it does seem like it’s escalated. Can you pinpoint any reason why that might be?

Martin O’Neill: “I really genuinely don’t know. I don’t know, I’ve been away for quite some considerable time, so I don’t know what’s the case. Rangers and Celtic will still be a fixture of sorts, a really fine fixture, but not to the same extent without the away fans.

Q: I know it’s not directly related, but of course there’s that big meeting up in St Andrews today, trying to look at the bigger picture of Scottish football. Do you think that that approach needs to be taken here as well? Everyone in Scotland needs to almost come together and look at the bigger picture and work together?

Martin O’Neill:  “I think so, yeah. I mean, it would certainly be a start. I think the longer that the clubs stay away from each other, then people are never going to resolve the situation. And so I think, from Celtic and Rangers’ viewpoint, I think that, yeah, the clubs will have to get together and see where they could go forward, because it’s just not a great situation to be in.”

8th March 2026; Ibrox Scottish Cup, Rangers versus Celtic; Rangers fans on the pitch. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: That’s one of Scottish football’s almost unique selling points, the rivalries, the passion of the fans. Are we cutting off our own noses to spite our face here by reducing the impact, the appeal of this fixture?

Martin O’Neill:  “My own personal view is that. Does that correspond with the clubs? I don’t know. As I’ve said, they’ve got a great, great fixture when the ground is absolutely full. I think that, and I think the away fans make this. I can think back of the years gone past, you know, at the beginning of the century, when I was involved, and they were magnificent fixtures, absolutely fantastic. And, yeah, it is quite sad.

“I don’t know in the overall picture of things, even to talk about Scottish football, where it stands at this minute. Obviously, money playing a major part in proceedings. Young kids now even can be taken away down south, for instance, clubs that you wouldn’t have thought years ago could have competed with Celtic or Rangers or Hibs or Aberdeen, really down south now, able to take players away. Suddenly you don’t have your Scottish quota of players. It’s tough.”

03.09.2026 Celtic FC new signings: Oliver Sørensen. Photo Willie Vass IMAGO

Q: Just coming back to the Celtic transfer window, how do you assess?

Martin O’Neill:  “We’ve got some players in, so I’m really, really pleased. Genuinely pleased.”

Q: Do you feel you got as much as you wanted, as you could have expected, or will there always be more?

Martin O’Neill: “Well, I think that the difficulty, when you think about it, is that you only have to look at the UEFA list about the places that we would have had available for players, and some young lads here, players will be disappointed not being able to make that particular UEFA squad. So, there’s only so many places that we could fill. If we can avoid serious injury to the players here, people not being out for endless lengths of time, then yeah, I’m happy with it.”

New Celtic goalkeeper Sam Johnstone photographed at The Celtic FC Training Centre, Lennoxtown. Celtic press conference, 03 September 2026. Photo Stuart Wallace Shutterstock IMAGO

Q: If you look at most of your rivals in the Premiership, most of them have done the vast majority of their business, perhaps before this season started, even a few weeks ago, but everything seemed to ramp up in the last couple of days for Celtic. Is that something you’ve got to avoid in the future? Is that something you’ve looked at and said, can we do things differently?

Martin O’Neill: “How many times are you going to ask me that? We started this in July, so yeah, I’m pleased with the players that we’ve got here. I just genuinely want to get on with it now. So, ideally, it would be great to have got players in early to get them bedded in. It doesn’t matter. I’d be really happy to have the players that we have.”

Shumaira Mheuka of Celtic arrives prior to the Scottish Premiership 2026/27 match between Celtic and Aberdeen at Celtic Park on September 02, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: We need to talk about time there, Martin. Do you have any preference or any opinion on the fact that five of the six players you brought in in the last 48 hours were loans? Would you rather they were permanents or are you just happy with people?

Martin O’Neill:  “Right, OK, that’s a good point. I sometimes concern myself about loan players coming in and maybe not having the club that they’re going to, seeing them as the club that they really want to play for. But I’ve also had loans of players who have loved the football club. For instance, Julian Araujo took the club to heart last season and that was great. Honestly, he would have done anything for the club. So, from that viewpoint, you’re never sure. I think some of the lads that we brought in have careers right ahead of them and this is a great start for them. I think they’re ready for what they want to do and I think they think that if you show some real belief in them that they will respond to it. So, that’s how I view it. Loans are sometimes a bit of a concern. It depends on the player.”

Joël van den Berg of Celtic arrives prior to the Scottish Premiership 2026/27 match between Celtic and Aberdeen at Celtic Park on September 02, 2026 . (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: It was quite a tough call when you’re weighing up the three lads that didn’t make the Europa League squad. How much did you have to consider?

Martin O’Neill:  “Yeah, very much so. In an ideal world, I would have had them all on board and give people an extra incentive. But our bread and butter is the league. And players, young players coming to the football club now, either on loan or permanently, let’s go and prove yourself at league level here. And if we were fortunate enough to stay in the Europa League until after January time, we may not do, but if we are, then these next three or four months will prove whether they will join that list in January time, if we are still there. So, yeah, it was difficult. I would have loved to have had them all in, but I had to learn from last season that I didn’t know the rules.”

Gvidas Gineitis of Torino FC in action during the Serie A match between Atalanta BC and Torino FC at Gewiss Stadium on January 10, 2026 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Francesco Scaccianoce/Getty Images)

Q: Overall, satisfied with the transfer, was it a disappointment that you didn’t get the Gvidas Gineitis deal over the line?

Martin O’Neill:  “No, no. I’m really pleased with what we have now at this minute. So, honestly, not a problem.”

9th August 2026; Rugby Park, Scottish Premiership, Kilmarnock versus Celtic; Kieran Tierney of Celtic arrives for the match. Photo by Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Kieran Tierney and Kasper Hogh, can you give an update on their injuries?

Martin O’Neill:  “Yeah, so, Kieran is doing fine at this minute. Really fine. I thought that he might be a wee bit longer, and he’s doing fine. Kasper is also on the mend as well. So, I think that, if not next midweek, then hopefully they’ll be ready for the game after that.”

Kasper Hogh of Celtic is seen prior to the Scottish Premiership 2026/27 match between Celtic and Falkirk at Celtic Park on August 29, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: So, definitely not tomorrow night, Martin?

Martin O’Neill:  “I would have thought very, very unlikely for both of them.”

Q: What are you expecting from St Mirren?

Martin O’Neill:  “I think they’ve been great. Really, really great. Really terrific, you know. They fought back against Motherwell. Terrific, really terrific, considering their precarious position last season. They’re playing. They’re an absolute delight, seriously. They’ve been terrific.”

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill is seen during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Falkirk at Celtic Park on 29 August, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Just on the summit happening today, if you could do just one thing to help improve the pathway for young players, what would you do that could be a quick, easy solution?

Martin O’Neill:  “I think one of the things that I believe they might be discussing at St Andrews today, I think, is maybe bringing young players into the squads, like they did when I was here 25 years ago. We had to have a couple of players, at least on the bench, to play. Now, it’s got some merit, and it’s also got a lot of drawbacks as well, because eventually you need these players to be good enough. There’s no point if they get a false feeling that they have made the grade when they’re brought into the squad, and they’re maybe miles away from it, but you’ve had to do it because of a reason.

And secondly, and you know the old selfish reason, as a football manager, you have to try and win some games. So, it is a difficult one. I’ve always had this feeling that if you’re good enough, you will come through. Of course, you need people to believe in you very, very early on. You need coaches to believe in you, you need a manager to believe in you, and you need belief in yourself. But if you are good enough, you will come through.

“My concern is that the players are naturally being taken away so early here, out of Scotland, because the rewards, or seemingly the rewards, or the immediate rewards are a lot of finance to the player and the family, are things that you probably can’t turn down. That’s it. So, I’m probably meandering on here at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter, but things to consider over a period of time.”

Thomas Hatton of Celtic arrives at the stadium ahead of the pre season friendly match between Celtic Andy AC Milan at Celtic Park on Saturday 25th July 2026. Celtic v AC Milan, Pre Season Friendly, – 25 July 2026. Photo Andy Buchanan IMAGO/Shutterstock

Q: The argument would be if maybe these young players saw a better pathway to the first team they might stay?

Martin O’Neill:  “Of course, of course, absolutely. I’m the first one to say that we’re signing players from abroad at this minute. I take your point entirely.”

Q: If you look at your, obviously you had to make some tough decisions with your squad for the Europa League, and there are obviously homegrown quotas in there as well. Which is quite a lot when you compare it to some of the other teams in the Premiership as well. So, if you’ve had to make those decisions, if the same quota rules were in place for the league as well, do you think that might help? So, I guess some clubs would focus more on Scottish players?

Thomas Hatton of Celtic. Celtic v Middlesbrough, Pre Season Friendly, Celtic Park, Glasgow, – 18 July 2026. Photo Phil Oldham IMAGO/Shutterstock

Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, listen, I take your point. I wasn’t expecting this today, so I probably need a wee bit more time to think about it. Yeah, I would really be open to suggestions. I have to almost consider my selfish position as a manager of trying to win football games, but for the overall good of the game, forget about me and forget about the managers trying to win. I wouldn’t disagree with you.”

Q: Any other squad news? Everyone else okay?

Martin O’Neill: “Yeah.”

Watch below Martin O’Neill’s mainstream media conference below ahead of tomorrow evening’s trip to Pailsey to play St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership…