Martin O’Neill sought no transfer assurances from Dermot Desmond | OneFootball

Things are going from bad to worse as Martin O’Neill now admits that he didn’t ask for any transfer assurances before agreeing to take the Celtic job on a permanent basis…

“Did I seek any assurances before taking up the job again? No, none at all. I’ve never done that,” Martin O’Neill has admitted. “Wouldn’t it be nice to be assured that if you kept losing matches, that you could stay until the end of the season?

“I didn’t put anything at all. I just hope we can do some business at the end of it all. But no, I didn’t put any assurances.”

How worried you are reading that depends on which side of the camp you are on within the Celtic support. Happy clappers will not be concerned at all whilst for the more realistic group of supporters, it will surely send a shudder down their spines.

Martin O’Neill talked about his relationship with Dermot Desmond, who he has repeated referred to as the club’s ‘owner’ and admitted that he could not say no to the Irish Billionaire who first brought him to the club over a quarter of a century ago.

Asked if the trust between the himself and Dermot Desmond was a major reason for not making any demands, the Celtic manager said, as reported by The Scottish Sun: “I just didn’t seek any. I can’t turn around and say, by the way, you need to get me 12 players and if you only get ten then you’ve broken the trust or something.

“No, not necessarily. Maybe it’s the fact I’ve known the owner of the football club for some time and I genuinely believe he will help when trying to get things over the line. Let me put it that way.”

O’Neill admitted to meeting Dermot Desmond alongside (interim) Chairman Brian Wilson and CEO Michael Nicholson last week in Dublin during the visit to the Irish capital to play Shelbourne in the club’s first pre-season friendly.

Celtic FC pose for a photo Sporting Lisbon v Celtic, Pre Season Friendly, Football, Estadio Algarve, Portugal – 14 July 2026A lgarve Estadio Algarve Portugal Photo Zed Jameson IMAGO/Shutterstock

Celtic then travelled to their summer training camp in Portugal and welcomed the one and only summer signing Camilo Duran to the squad ahead of losing 4-1 to Sporting CP on Tuesday evening.

The Celtic squad is now back in Glasgow and preparing at Lennoxtown for this weekend’s friendly match at Celtic Park against Middlesbrough.

Their support will travel in numbers to Glasgow with a major World Cup hangover after a Lionel Messi masterclass turned around the World Cup semi-final last night to send England crashing out of the competition and in doing so confirming sixty years of hurt.

Martin O’Neill continued: “I got a chance to talk to Dermot, Michael and Brian in Dublin. We went for something to eat after the game. What’s my relationship like with them? Way, way back in my first spell I went to board meetings which were monthly.

“I had a lot of conversations with Dermot back in those days. They’ve been less frequent since January but the conversations should be a bit more often now as we look at players.

“Historically speaking we were quite late bringing players in so I’m not perturbed at this minute. We are making some sort of progress, as we have been for a while. It just takes a wee bit of time.”

Patience is something that is running out as far as many Celtic supporters are concerned and while there hasn’t been a call to boycott the game at the weekend, many supporters have already decided to stay away. The ball in the club’s court.

Are you going to the game at the weekend? I’m certain not.

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