Martin O’Neill opens his media conference with really positive news | OneFootball

Martin O’Neill gave the Celtic fans a boost today after fears that Camilo Duran would miss the games against Ferencvaros and the Rangers after missing training today. Here’s everything that the Celtic manager had to say in his pre-match media conference which once again excluded the Celtic fan media…

Martin O’Neill at McDiarmid Park. 9th September 2026; McDiarmid Park, Perth, Scottish Premiership St Johnstone versus Celtic; Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Martin, can we start with an update on your squad, Camilo Duran missed training, is he going to be available for the game?

Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, he’s going to be available for the match, yeah. He had to go down to London about a visa, I think he’s been picked up for the Colombian national side, so the only time he could do it, to have it in time, was this morning.”

Camilo Duran of Celtic celebrates scoring his team’s first goal during the Scottish Premiership 2026/27 match between Celtic and Aberdeen at Celtic Park on September 02, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: No preparation issues wise for you then, that’s fine, he slots back in?

Martin O’Neill:  “Yeah, yes.

Q: How, would you sum up how you’re feeling ahead of what’s clearly a big European game and then everyone knows what’s round the corner on Sunday, how are you balancing these?

Martin O’Neill:  “Yeah, looking forward to it really, the whole idea of trying to win the league is to get into European football, we were hoping it might be in Champions League, that was a disappointment, but the Europa League is still very strong, we’d like to get off to a decent start if we could, and yeah, it’s just balancing the side a wee bit between now and obviously tomorrow and then Sunday, because it’ll be our seventh game in 22 days.”

13th September 2026; Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, Scotland; Scottish League Cup Football, Rangers versus Celtic; Dan Neil of Rangers shoots and scores in the 22nd minute to make it 1-0

Q: What sort of soul-searching has been done in the days that have followed, there’s clearly a lot of disappointment at the weekend?

Martin O’Neill:  “Yeah, it’s every game that Celtic lose, there’s a crisis, and of course, even bigger if you lose to Rangers, so yeah, we’ve done enough talking about it.”

Q: How big a test of the one game at a time theory is this though, because you know what Sunday means to all the fans, clearly what it means in the context of the league table, the context of last weekend as well?

Martin O’Neill:  “Sorry, just give me that again.”

Martin O’Neill at Ibrox. Premier Sports Cup quarter final. 13 September 2026. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: So the test that managers always say, taking one game at a time, you don’t look beyond Thursday?

Martin O’Neill:  “Well, I can’t really, because it’s an important game for us, we’d like to try and get off to a decent start as I’ve just mentioned, and while we might make a few changes in the side, that might be down to just as much as people have played in the last 20-odd days, as much as anything else, so yeah, it is always a balancing act if you’re playing so many games in relatively quick succession, but we’ll have to deal with it.”

Q: What has the reaction been like from your players over the last few days after Sunday?

Martin O’Neill:  “Yeah, I think the players are disappointed with the performance, we could have done better, I think we accept that, so we were knocked out and we just apply ourselves now again for the league fixtures.”

13th September 2026; Ibrox, Scottish League Cup Football, Rangers versus Celtic; Mika Baur of Celtic on the ball. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: There’ll be that disappointment amongst the players, amongst the supporters, but with two big games before the international break, do you need to see that as an opportunity to try and turn the mood around after Sunday?

Martin O’Neill:  “Do you know what I think? I think every game that we play, there’s an opportunity for us. I know what you’re saying, I know what you’re feeling, but yeah, it’s a disappointment, we disappointed ourselves, we disappointed the fans in the game and we just have to rise to the occasion. We’ve got two matches in which to do so before the break, two big games for us, you know, a fair inch for us will not be easy, but we’ve done it before, we’ll get ourselves right.”

Q: On paper this maybe looks like the best opportunity to get points on the board at home in the Europa League with some other tough games coming up, how important is it to start this group phase as well?

Martin O’Neill:  “Yeah, that would be nice, I don’t look at it like that, I think any side playing in European football will provide us with problems and we just have to try and overcome them, it’s really as simple as that. So I don’t treat the game lightly at all, I’d like to try and win it if we can, it’d be nice to get off to a good start if that was possible, it might not be. I suppose if this was our final game going into the international break, you could just go with it with absolutely everything, which we will do in terms of the side that we put out.”

13th September 2026; Ibrox. Scottish League Cup Football, Rangers versus Celtic; Emmanuel Fernandez of Rangers and Colby Donovan of Celtic challenge for the ball. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: We were just chatting to Colby Donovan there, Martin, and he admits that he’s still really hurting from Sunday and it’s sort of lighting the fire for these next two games to repay the fans. I just wonder for you, how much does that manner of defeat still linger, does that still hurt for you? Are you able to shake that off quickly?

Martin O’Neill:  “No, I’ve never been able to shake things off early. I’ve been saying this, it’s been a message to players throughout my managerial time, that defeat should hurt, it should hurt, and if you’re smiling or laughing or joking about an hour after the match is over, then I don’t think it’s the best sight in the world and I don’t think you’ve treated the game with the seriousness that it deserves.

Jack McMillan of Falkirk vies with Colby Donovan of Celtic during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Falkirk at Celtic Park on August 29, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

“So that’s the point, I think that should be the message anyway to the players, they should hurt. And some of the newer players, I think it was a revelation in many aspects, the game itself was, as you would expect an Old Firm (sic) game to be played, high intensity and I think it was an eye-opener to some of the newer lads. So you’ve got to find out about players, about whether they’re capable of dealing with these games, hopefully over the course of time that they will be, but yeah it was a surprise.

“I think last year when we played Rangers a couple of times at Ibrox and we brought in some new players who found it pretty difficult, difficult matches. I wasn’t surprised, I was surprised that they might have been surprised at the time, so that was the point. But yeah, we’ll pick up from there.”

Q: Do yourself and the coaching staff also reflect on how you guys set up the team, the tactics and stuff?

Martin O’Neill:  “Of course, of course.”

Martin O’Neill, Manager of Celtic, arrives at the stadium before the Premier Sports Cup Quarter Final match between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox Stadium on September 13, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Because there’s a lot of questions on that from those outside?

Martin O’Neill:  “I said at the end of the game, any time you lose a match, you’ll have to question yourself about whether tactics or the team selection. It’s strange that you’re never asked about team selection when you win the games, you’re never asked about whether the tactics are right or not when you win the matches. We’ve been doing a fair amount of winning domestically now for quite some considerable time and so we’ve won our league games so far, it’s another big test for us on Sunday obviously, but it’s amazing the number of times that you’re not questioned when you’ve won.”

13th September 2026; Ibrox, Scottish League Cup Football, Rangers versus Celtic; Rangers and Celtic players react on the pitch. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Can I also ask about Colby Donovan, up to the Scotland squad?

Martin O’Neill:  “It’s great to see it, I think he’s deserved the call-up, I’ve always said this too, I think that he wants to improve all the time. He’s got a big heart, he’s there and he’s one of the few players I felt should have escaped criticism on Sunday at the end of it all, but he’s wholehearted, he does put everything into it. Of course there are parts of his game that he can definitely improve on, he knows that himself, but overall it’s been a great period for him and I’m delighted for him, he’s a really great lad.”

13th September 2026; Ibrox, Scottish League Cup Football, Rangers versus Celtic; Camilo Duran of Celtic and Nicolas Raskin of Rangers on the ball. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Martin, you’ve obviously confirmed there that Camilo is available, which is a big plus for you I’m sure. How difficult are you finding it to deploy him in the most effective manner?

Martin O’Neill:  “You’re asking this, he has played in a number of positions for us, I think his best position is either centre-forward himself or just off the centre-forward. So it’s up to us now in the course of the next few months to develop ways, that’s what we’re there for, to develop ways to get the very best out of him if that’s the case.

“Now it doesn’t mean that the whole team should just be making plans for just one player for him. It was never the case here way back some years ago when one of the great players, Henrik Larsson. Henrik Larsson never came into my room to ever ask about where he was going to play or what he wanted to do, as long as he was starting in the game that was what he wanted to do.

13th September 2026; Ibrox. Scottish League Cup, Rangers versus Celtic; /r21 challenges Camilo Duran of Celtic, Photo Vagelis Georgariou

“But that’s up to us, we’ll try and devise a way over the next few months to try and do that, so that the rest of the season, when this international break is over, that we try and find a way just to win football matches with our best players on the field.”

Q: Is he the type of player that is happy to do what you’re saying there, just play in a position, play in the team no matter where, or is he?

Martin O’Neill:  “Well he did say a couple of weeks ago that he didn’t mind where he played, but people do have their preference for positions. Eventually that’s what we want to do, we want to try and evolve as a team, we’ve got some new players into the side that are still settling down, Kasper Hogh included in that, so we’ve got a lot of work to do with our team despite the domestic results.

LASK vs Celtic, Linz 25 August 2026 – UEFA Champions League, play-off, the disappointment of Luke McCowan, Reo Hatate and Kasper Hogh. GEPA pictures/Manuel Binder/ IMAGO

Q: I think in the two biggest tests you’ve had this season away in the Champions League, obviously Rangers at the weekend, a lot of people are looking at midfield and the defensive element of that, does that concern that to you?

Martin O’Neill:  “Do you know what, defeat always concerns me, honestly it really does, defeat concerns me. I got knocked by us losing in the Champions League qualifying game, there might have been some sort of reasons for that eventually, we’ll always find a reason for it. I don’t agree with those being the two biggest tests, every single game is a test for us, we go to St Mirren that’s a test, we go to St Johnstone it is a test, at the end of the day we have to try and come through those, there’s no point in trying to win some football matches if you lose other games, and I think that that’s been the case.

13th September 2026; Ibrox, Scottish League Cup Football, Rangers versus Celtic; James Forrest of Celtic puts the ball in. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

“We’ve eventually, regardless, we’ve found a way to win last season, we found something along the way when the odds were piled against us, so at this minute, at least we started off this season level pegging and now it’s up to us to try and push on from there, the season will be tough, tomorrow night will be tough, Sunday will be very tough as well, and it’s up to us to find ways to try and win football matches, regardless of who plays.”

Q: How strong a team do you see, or a challenge do you see tomorrow night’s opponents as being?

Martin O’Neill:  “I’ve just seen them, I think they’ll be tough, they’ve got three lads on the side who are exceptional footballers, exceptional players, and they will cause us lots of problems. But we hope to be at home, try and get the crowd on our side as much as possible and try and win it, but yeah, they will be tough opposition, because they have some players who are technically very, very good.”

Martin O’Neill

Q: I’m from the Hungarian News Agency, and what is their greatest strength, Ferencvaros?

Martin O’Neill:  “Why would I want to tell you that, you know, seriously? I’m not interested in the weakest points. I know, but they might be listening, you know, they might be listening and then might take something from it. They might think I’m talking nonsense as well too. I just think it’s going to be a hard game. I think they are a tough side, I just mentioned that. I’m not prepared to divulge their strengths or weaknesses of the side, they might change their plans, they might not.”

Q: Is only the three points acceptable for Celtic?

Martin O’Neill:  “No, I don’t think that at all, I think it would be the same for Ferencvaros. Obviously trying to win the game, if it’s at all possible, it’s the opening game and we had a real struggle last year to qualify because our opening four games, I think, didn’t yield enough points, so it was really hard for us.

“We had to go and win in Feyenoord, we had to go and get a result in Bologna and eventually we got through. So again, that might end up being the same thing, I don’t know, I don’t want it to be, I want to try and get some points early on the board. So we’ll be striving for that, that’s what we’ll be doing.”

Football 1977 International Friendly international match Argentina 1 Scotland 1 Scotland s Danny McGrain at The Estadio de Boca Juniors La Bombonera Buenos Aires 18 06 1977. Photo IMAGO

Q: The club announced the news about Danny McGrain’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, just a word on him and what he means to the club obviously?

Martin O’Neill:  “Yeah, he’s a super, super player, no question about that. One of the best. I remember, I think I was captain of the Northern Ireland team in 1982, I think Danny was captain of Scotland at the time and Kevin Keegan, I think there’s a picture of all three of us.

Celtic legend Danny McGrain is seen during the Betfred Cup Final between Aberdeen and Celtic at Hampden Park on November 27, 2016. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

I got to know Danny more when I came to the football club, first of all here, he was with Kenny McDowall, he was running the reserves, so I got to know him then. Not phenomenally, because our paths crossed, I used to go to a lot of the reserve games and that’s when I would see him and sometimes I’d go down and watch the reserves training at a different time to us, but overall, yeah, Danny was a legend, a legend of the football club and it’s really sad to hear the news.”

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