Full Media Conference: Martin O'Neill looks ahead to #CELDUTD (27/10/26)

[0:00] Martin, a year to the day since you came back, how do you reflect on that? [0:07] Yeah, obviously with a lot of satisfaction, secretly probably delighted to get the call [0:15] and happy with the results since. [0:18] Does that feel like a long year? [0:20] It feels a really long year, yeah, very long. [0:25] You obviously, I mean part of the reason I'm sure is you know the environment here, [0:29] you know the club better than anyone, [0:30] is there anything when you look back over that year that has changed in a way you thought you wouldn't [0:35] or anything that's surprised you about the way it is now? [0:38] The club or do you mean things in general? [0:40] I suppose both the club and maybe the last game. [0:42] Yeah, I think, yeah, obviously I see a lot of changes in the game in my time out of it. [0:51] I see a lot of good things, I see a lot of things that haven't improved the game, [0:59] let me put it this way, but overall I think that's just the nature of things and progress going forward. [1:06] I know you said when you got that call, I'm sure you expected it to be shorter term than to be sitting here. [1:11] I did, I think, yeah, Dermot Desmond said to me, he said it would be either two weeks or two months at the time. [1:18] And so, yeah, I think the biggest thing for me was not knowing the players and having to try and get to know them very, very quickly. [1:30] And at the same time trying to get a few results together. [1:34] Lost a bit of confidence from matches before, I think that was, I think I said to you, [1:39] I think just restoration of confidence was the biggest thing as much as anything else. [1:44] And some players coming through and doing really well, Engels, for instance, wasn't in the side at the time. [1:51] And Yang, seeing things that Yang could do here in the training ground, maybe he had lost a bit of confidence as well. [2:00] And seeing players like that there come through, I think that's really pleasing. [2:04] I think it's obvious what you've done for the club. What's it done for you coming back in over that? [2:10] Yeah, I mean, the club has done more for me than I've done for the club. [2:14] And that's in it seriously. It's rejuvenated me in many aspects. [2:20] Doing a little bit of punditry work, you know, talking nonsense most of the time. [2:25] So nothing really changes from that viewpoint. [2:28] But not in a serious sense, really rejuvenation, getting into a game that I absolutely love, will love forever. [2:39] And something that had passed me by for quite some considerable time. [2:44] Or not so much passed me by as that, in fact, I'd never even thought about it, you know, coming back in. [2:50] Kind of really, well, I was going to say semi-enjoying my life and watching the game from afar. [2:58] So all of those things, yeah, I couldn't appreciate more and realise even today, a year, is it a year on today? [3:06] So a year on of what, yeah, what the club has done for me. [3:11] Can you give us an update on Alistair Johnson's situation? [3:14] Yeah, he got a scan, I think it was yesterday evening, got the results this morning. [3:21] And it's not too bad. He's feeling it's not too bad. [3:24] It's not the, excuse me, it's not the same injury. [3:28] It is one of those, I think there's three muscles in that hamstring. [3:33] It's one of those. [3:34] But, yeah, it'll be a shorter term for him, well, he believes, and so does the medical team. [3:41] Can you give us a guess, Mick, what shorter term means? [3:43] Well, short term would probably mean, I think, I can't see him, I probably can't see him involved before the international break. [3:51] But even so, then after that, I think that's what they're thinking about. [3:57] No luck. He's had no luck in the last... [3:59] He's really had not. Even in the spell that he was on, he looked commanding, he looked a real player, which is a shame. [4:08] But he's very philosophical about it all. [4:10] You know, he's, yeah, he's treating it in the, or taking it in the stride. [4:15] And, yeah, and I think he's really happy with what the scan has shown. [4:20] Man, a new contract for Kobe Donovan yesterday. [4:23] Just how pleased are you to see him commit his future to the club? [4:26] Well, delighted, delighted for him and delighted with him. [4:31] I mean, he's, when I arrived here, first of all, he was, you know, sharing that position at the time. [4:43] Obviously, Alistair was out with the injury. [4:46] And he's shown a great determination, really great determination. [4:51] He's probably surpassed his own expectations as well, too, in many aspects. [4:56] Was he doing the press here? [4:57] Yeah. [4:58] But I'd really want to hear what he was saying rather than what I was saying about him. [5:05] But, yeah, he's done super, really, really super. [5:10] What are the biggest things you've seen in his development over the year? [5:12] I think that, for instance, he and Big Dane played in that game against Hearts, [5:24] which is just about this time last year. [5:28] And where the Hearts player looked as if he was taking him on [5:32] and Kobe just kept getting beaten, retreating very, very quickly [5:38] and not making a challenge before the edge of the penalty box. [5:41] Now he's coming out, he's really determined. [5:45] He's closing players down more quickly. [5:48] I thought he dealt with a very, very good Hearts player last Sunday. [5:54] McPig has been flying at this minute, so Colby has gone and done that. [5:59] And he's done well enough to get himself in the Scottish squad, you know, so that's nice. [6:04] I know he didn't participate at all in it, but it's just signs of his development. [6:08] So I think his overall commitment, his wanting to do well, [6:13] I think those have forced the issues as much as anything else. [6:16] But it's just really the technical side of things that I think he has improved on [6:22] and I think he can continue to improve. [6:25] Can I ask you about the goalkeeping situation? [6:27] Sam Johnson's been in the last couple of games. [6:30] It happened previously when he came in for two games and Volyami came back in. [6:33] Is there hope for you that you have a solidified number one at some point for the rest of the season? [6:39] Absolutely, of course. [6:41] Yeah, exactly. [6:41] And I would like to know what Sam can do, and I think this is the whole point. [6:45] I know exactly what Sinasalo can do now, who stepped into the Breach last year, [6:51] did brilliantly for us. [6:52] And I'd like to know so that in the next few weeks I think that the goalkeepers will come back and play again [7:02] and it would be nice for me to make my mind up about exactly what's in front of us [7:08] between now and the end of the season. [7:09] Is this now just a big challenge for Sam over the last couple of games? [7:13] Yeah, I think the difficulty obviously with goalkeeping is that at some stage or another [7:20] you're going to make your mind up about it. [7:24] And that's the thing, you can be a very good goalkeeper and you can be sitting behind someone. [7:30] And the one thing you don't want to do is that you don't want to stop people's progress in the game as well too. [7:36] And most goalkeepers now are going on for a fairly decent age as well too. [7:43] So I think that's the thing. [7:46] Sinasalo has come in. [7:48] I thought he's done very well for us. [7:50] Of course there's some games that naturally a goalkeeper will make a few mistakes in. [7:55] But I would like to see over the next few weeks who I think would be our number one. [8:02] Martin, how much do you have to juggle when you decide if you're starting with Kasper, [8:06] who are through the middle and playing Gerrard out wide? [8:09] Obviously Kasper's struggling through confidence. [8:11] How do you as a manager and he as a player navigate through that? [8:15] Yeah, over time we've got a lot of matches and it's one of those things that I think Kasper started on Sunday, [8:25] nearly got himself a goal. [8:27] And yeah, I think we've talked about this here for the last couple of weeks, [8:30] just confidence and it will come. [8:33] And then hopefully there are a flurry of goals after that. [8:37] That's easier said than done, of course, but I think that's the case. [8:40] But for me, it is a matter. [8:43] I've got also, I've got a young centre forward who's on loan from Chelsea, [8:47] who's definitely shown signs of being able to break through and come in. [8:52] So I've got a bit of a problem on my hands. [8:56] A good problem. [8:57] It's nice at the minute, yeah. [8:59] What have you made of United now, mountain up to fourth? [9:02] Who? [9:03] Under United. [9:03] Oh, I've got a lot of time for the manager as well too. [9:07] A lot of time for him. [9:08] He was a young kid here, didn't play him because he wasn't good enough. [9:12] Do you remind him of that? [9:13] I will occasionally. [9:14] I think I was the first one to get him all those grey hairs that he's had. [9:19] But a lot of time for him. [9:21] I really do have, you know, I think he's a really fine manager. [9:24] I think he's, and how he dealt with the pitch way back in March was just brilliant. [9:30] It was brilliant, you know. [9:32] So, but really have a lot of time for him. [9:34] Well, he's probably got Dundee United, but a lot of Dundee United fans think they should be. [9:38] He's probably got the team and the club in the position that they feel they should be. [9:42] Well, Dundee United, I mean, if you look at their history of Dundee United, yeah. [9:46] You know, they're a very fine football club. [9:50] And, yeah, they've got the history to prove it. [9:53] Cass, yesterday, Martin, the appeals were held in regards to the stadium balance for Celtic and Rangers. [10:00] Are you optimistic that it will be favourable in terms of Celtic's outcome? [10:04] Well, I didn't know that. [10:06] Ian has just told me about that there, so I genuinely wasn't aware of that. [10:09] So, just run through me. [10:11] So, yeah, obviously, there's the stadium closure and a £100,000 fine as a result of the disorder at the Scottish Cup quarterfinal Ibrox. [10:18] Both clubs have appealed that. [10:19] Yes. [10:20] Is the club Celtic optimistic that that appeal is going to go in your favour? [10:24] Well, I don't know whether the club are optimistic. [10:26] I haven't asked them that. [10:27] It would be nice from my own Celtic's viewpoint. [10:30] It would be great if it came to us. [10:33] Martin, can you just go back to Colby? [10:35] There's been a lot of talk over the last few months about young Scottish players not getting enough minutes, a chance. [10:43] But is it great for Celtic that you get these guys in who are clearly, I hope it's clearly a big Celtic fan as well, playing for the... [10:49] I think there's a lot in that as well, too. [10:51] You know, we've got... [10:53] And I think the players... [10:55] I'm not saying that every single player that we sign should know the history of the football club. [11:00] I expect them to know about Celtic. [11:02] But it is nice, some kids coming through who are Celtic through and through, who want to play for the club, whose only ambition is to play for Celtic and to actually come up and play well and do well enough to stay in the side. [11:16] Now, of course, it comes as a matter of circumstance as much as else for Colby. [11:21] By chance, he gets a chance because Alistair was injured last season. [11:28] He gets in, he grabs it, he's sharing it at times, obviously, with Tony. [11:32] And now he's come in and he's... [11:35] From pre-season, he's done exceptionally well. [11:40] I know I've said this before, he's got a good heart, but he's got a bit more than that, you know. [11:44] And he's doing really well and he wants to defend, which is good. [11:48] Has it helped as well, guys like Sean, Stephen McManus and your backroom staff as well, who've been in that same journey as well? [11:54] I think so, yeah, I think absolutely. [11:56] I think that it's... [11:58] And I think... [11:59] I mean, the door's open for them, the lads want to do. [12:02] And we have, you know, we have these meetings after matches, you know, to see how things can improve. [12:09] And I think Colby has listened. [12:11] Ask about another young player, Joe Vandenberg. [12:13] Is he... [12:14] That's his first day today, training with us. [12:17] You know, so that'll be nice. [12:19] It'll be nice to see what he can do. [12:20] And for the lads that we've brought in, obviously Landon is another player that we feel as if that he's definitely got potential. [12:32] Talking about young Vandenberg, yeah, I think it'll be nice to see what he's capable of doing over the course of the next few months. [12:38] And, yeah, the injury has stopped him from doing that. [12:41] This is, as I say, his first day back. [12:43] But, yeah, it's the... [12:44] Those things are... [12:46] They'd be nice to see how they develop. [12:48] In terms of our team, is there anything else to report? [12:52] Yang, for instance. [12:54] Yang is doing... [12:55] He's doing really well now. [12:56] I think it's next week that he will start training with us. [12:58] Yeah. [12:59] Martin, just regards to Alistair again. [13:02] You're thinking maybe after the international break. [13:04] Are you going to have to be, given that hamstring a few times now, [13:07] are you going to have to be even more cautious in terms of his game management? [13:11] I think we have been... [13:12] Oh, yeah, in terms of his game management. [13:14] When he comes by. [13:15] Yeah, of course. [13:16] Listen, Alistair will be aware of this, that, you know, not... [13:25] You don't play the football matches just for the sake of someone coming back. [13:29] It was the same with Carter Vickers coming back here with the injury. [13:34] You're always concerned about hamstrings. [13:35] And the idea was that we could maybe give Alistair maybe 30 minutes of the game. [13:44] But those... [13:46] And Alistair's well aware of this. [13:47] Those depend on circumstances, real circumstances. [13:50] It was tough for us during the course of it. [13:52] And in all honesty, if Colby had not been injured at the time, [13:57] chances are we wouldn't have put Alistair on. [14:00] And he would have accepted that, even though in his mind he's thinking [14:03] maybe he'll get the last 30 minutes to get himself into it. [14:06] But the circumstances of the game dictate everything, you know. [14:09] And we were, you know, swirling wind, [14:14] heads pressing forward at the time. [14:16] So, yeah. [14:17] So Colby being injured allowed us that opportunity. [14:21] But had he not been, [14:23] I'm not so sure whether I would have put Alistair on at the time. [14:26] And similarly with, obviously, with the change then [14:31] and Dane going to right back, [14:33] then in comes Carter Vickers. [14:36] At some stage or another they're going to start the games. [14:40] But that was needs must for us at that time. [14:44] So in terms of being careful with Alistair, [14:47] yeah, absolutely. [14:49] And these are injuries that up until last season [14:51] he had never picked up. [14:53] And it is when you do it. [14:54] And I've done it myself as a player. [14:57] You get a hamstring injury, you know, [15:00] late in your career. [15:01] I'm not saying Alistair's was. [15:03] My first hamstring would have been about 20, [15:06] 28 or something I guess here. [15:07] And you think, what is this? [15:08] What is this? [15:09] So it is a concern. [15:14] Thank you. [15:14] Thanks a lot. [15:15] Thank you.