Celtic's malaise 'inevitable', the club lack leadership and why I feel sorry for my old boss Martin O'Neill

The defending champions currently find themselves six points behind league leaders Hearts and two points behind Rangers in third after their 2-1 home defeat to Hibs at the weekend, leaving their hopes of a historic 56th title victory hanging by a thread ahead of a this weekend’s mammoth Old Firm derby against Rangers.

Despite a turbulent last few weeks, former Celtic midfielder Stiliyan Petrov firmly believes the club still have what it takes to claw back the deficit at the top, though, the 46-year-old has urged the club’s hierarchy to show some leadership and make some tough decisions, or face a similar struggle in the seasons to come.

“There was a lack of leadership,” said Petrov. “You need strong leaders in difficult times. At the moment, it seems like there's nobody out there leading in the right direction, doing the right things, to calm things down and give the opportunity for the fans to settle and the team to start performing.

“There’s not a clear message to the fans, to Martin O’Neill about what is happening next season, to the players, there’s no clarity at the moment. That’s where the fans get frustrated. It’s about what we do next. You’ve done a great job in the club, but if you make a mistake, and we all make mistakes, you have to take it as a man. You show leadership, you are proactive, what is the action plan and how are you are going to execute it?

“At the moment there is no message like that. Everything is up in the air. There’s a lot of questions. There are a lack of performances and a lack of results, and a lack of communication. A good leader communicates and is clear about what they want to achieve and how he’s going to achieve it.

“On Thursday [vs Stuttgart], I've never seen Celtic Park outsang from the opposition fans. I've never seen that. Celtic Park at the moment is a really strange place. Players, fans, they come to Celtic Park because of what Celtic means for the world. The fan base, the singing, the emotion, the enthusiasm. The fans have always been behind us. At the moment, it seems like they're divided. If they don't start pulling together, it's going to be a difficult period for Celtic. Not just this season, but probably next season as well.”

With just 11 games to go, decisions over the club’s next manager, chairman, and director of football this summer are looming large. Despite twice accepting the job as manager at Celtic Park this season, O’Neill is adamant that this stint will be his final one in charge of the club. However, Petrov - who played under him at both Celtic and Aston Villa - believes the veteran boss should still have a part to play in Celtic’s future.

“He does,” said the former midfielder. “I’ve had this conversation with him for many years about why he was not involved with Celtic. His answer was always, ‘I don’t know’. It’s great to see him, but I have kind of felt sorry for him. He’s 73 years old, and he’s trying to save the club at a difficult time.

“He’s trying to motivate, trying to be the connection between the fans and the board, trying to do his job on the pitch. It’s really sad to see. If I’m a Celtic fan – and I am a Celtic fan – I would like to see Martin doing more than being asked to save the club in this moment. That’s not his job. He’s 73. The club should really have made better decisions than asking Martin to stay and save the season.

“It seems like all of the pressure right now is on Martin O’Neill. He is trying to deal with so many things. The club is divided. He doesn’t need that now. There’s a lot of questions and important to see how they are going to go forward, what decision they will make. Martin is there to the end of the season and he’ll take the hits and the questions. But what happens next? There’s no clarity.”

Stiliyan Petrov was speaking on behalf of William Hill, the SPFL’s title partner. Check out the weekly preview show here.