It feels unwise to be fooled by Martin O’Neill’s self-deprecation. The 73-year-old remains publicly steadfast that his second stint in charge of Celtic will be short term. “I think my remit was that they would be looking for somebody [else] pretty quickly,” he said on Friday. “I don’t think this is a renaissance. I just think this is a fill-in.”
Shock is still reverberating around Celtic Park, not so much about Monday’s resignation of Brendan Rodgers but the follow-up savaging of the former manager by the main shareholder, Dermot Desmond.
O’Neill is unwilling to speculate upon the ‘what if’. It is undeniable, though, that if he guides Celtic to a League Cup semi-final win against Rangers on Sunday there will be a swell of support for affording him a longer spell in office. “The only people who would be saying that is my two daughters,” said O’Neill. This is incorrect, which he will know only too well. O’Neill masks his intellect well when he chooses to.
Read Ewan Murray’s preview of today’s game at Hampden Park here:
The substitute Regan Linney hit a sensational hat-trick as the National League side Carlisle stunned Reading of League One with a remarkable 3-2 extra-time win in the FA Cup first round. Linney struck twice in second-half added time to force an additional period after Lewis Wing and Mark O’Mahony put the hosts in control before completing his treble – and the comeback – in the 94th minute.
