Talks between Celtic’s largest shareholder Dermot Desmond and Martin O’Neill over the club’s managerial hotseat have been pushed back to next week.
Speaking after he secured a domestic double by beating Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup Final, the veteran interim boss flagged up the expectation of discussions with Irish billionaire Desmond this week.
Celtic were also scheduled to speak with other candidates for the post in London. Like the meeting with O’Neill those discussions have also been nudged back beyond the weekend.
Robbie Keane and Wales manager Craig Bellamy have also been heavily linked with the post. Another candidate, former Motherwell boss Jens Berthel Askou, has already moved to Toulouse.
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Acknowledging that there was much for both sides to consider, O’Neill claimed he had no real insight into the club’s intentions.
While assistant boss Shaun Maloney is expected to take up a new senior operations role, overseeing the football department, O’Neill will attend the Belfast Telegraph Sports Awards in the Northern Irish capital this evening
One of four members of the 1982 Northern Ireland World Cup squad in attendance, the 74-year-old boss spoke after Saturday’s 3-1 win over Dunfermline when he said: “He (Desmond) hasn’t said anything to me, and I don’t know if that’s good news or bad news. But I will genuinely have a wee look at it to see.
“I’d be thinking, though, that for the football club to go forward properly then they’d probably looking at somebody younger. If you’re asking me if I’d have a project or something like that, no, I couldn’t do that. I wouldn’t have it.”
