Anxiety wracks Celtic's big signing but supply teacher role ditched by Martin O'Neill

At the time he wrote this his most recent stint as manager, an unhappy 19-game spell at Nottingham Forest, was already several years in the rear-view mirror. He surely did not envisage the next chapter involving not one but two separate spells managing Celtic. It’s time for a major update, Martin.

But before he sits down for a spot of more memoir writing, there’s a league to retain, a Scottish Cup to be won and the little matter of a place in the knockout phase of the Europa League to secure.

In the last instance, O’Neill inspired a stunning 3-1 victory in the Netherlands against Feyenoord. That was one of seven wins from eight that he achieved first – or, sorry, second time – around. O’Neill’s legacy seems assured whatever happens over the course of the next few months but he has struggled to quell those familiar feelings of insecurity.

“I've got to tell you, I'm very anxious about it, as I've always been,” he said. “But I'm anxious, maybe in a sort of excited way, but yeah, I'm anxious. But that's me, I've got dreadful insecurity problems!”

He said the same thing when he unveiled last time. That event was held at Celtic Park, assistant Shaun Maloney alongside him. This time there was no need and probably no stomach on the 73-year-old’s part to be the centre of attention on such a grand scale. He acknowledged the regrettable circumstances of his return. A good man had been dumped, essentially, after just eight games. Wilfried Nancy’s fate was weighing heavily.

‘You just need a little bit of luck’

“It was disappointing,” he said, of the Frenchman’s blink-and-you-missed-it reign. “But some of the matches that they played…had that second goal had gone in….I know it's ifs, buts and maybes, but if they'd been able to score the second goal, you never know that things could have been different.

“You just need a little bit of luck,” he added. “Somewhere along the way, and I look back at my time at Leicester, I couldn't win a game to save my life. The crowd got very restless, that's putting it mildly. I got a bit of luck away from Filbert Street, where I won two games in about three or four days and eased the pressure. I understand these things. We got a bit of luck, we finally got promotion, it was great. Things went really brilliantly for me after that, but it was touch and go.”

He liked Nancy in the short time he spent with him, on the Thursday following the Dundee game. Contrary to a story that went around, O’Neill stressed that the Frenchman hadn’t been keen to wrap the meeting up as quickly as possible. “It was not that Wilfried wanted to cut it short at all, in fact, if anything, it was probably me, in that respect,” he said.

Time was of the essence. Nancy had a game in little more than 48 hours’ time, against the league leaders. He lost that one and ….kept on losing until a brief period of respite involving back-to-back wins over Aberdeen and Livingston was ended by two defeats against Motherwell and Rangers. O’Neill hasn’t spoken to him since coming back in.

The Northern Irishman painted the picture of receiving major shareholder Dermot Desmond’s phone call. Last time he was a in a café in plush Fulham. This time he was already in the east end of Glasgow, prepping for a ‘An audience with….’ show in Kilsyth on Monday night. “He was to the point,” recalled O’Neill. “He said, 'Would you come in?'” O’Neill agreed to do so until the end of the season. He claims he doesn't have the energy to commit to longer. “Time is running out for me,” he said. “I turn 112 next birthday!”

Part of his insecurity stems from knowing the same thing can happen to him as happened to Nancy if results don’t turn.

“I felt as if I was like one of those supply teachers before,” he said. “Now my time looks as if it's going to be longer. But I will have exactly the same problem. If I don't win the football matches, I come under pressure as well too. So, I'm aware of that.”

Having waved farewell to adoring fans following the home 1-0 win against Dundee, he clocks back on competitively against Dundee United at Parkhead again on Saturday. Just 38 days separate the two assignments. From edging level with Hearts following that victory against Dundee, he resumes with the team sitting six points adrift of the leaders. Rangers are also in the mix, as are Motherwell.

O’Neill’s last stint was well timed in that it did not include a game against the coming team of Fir Park, where Celtic were dismantled just last week. “It's going to be difficult. I think, no bones about it,” he said. “There are fewer games to play now than before. Rangers must have gained a psychological advantage over us, but we still have to catch Hearts, and the way that Motherwell played the other evening against Celtic, they might well be the best footballing side in the league.”

There’s work to do. What did his wife, Geraldine, and two daughters, Aisling and Alana, have to say? “Exactly the same (as last time),” he said. “Exactly the same, honestly. My two daughters were really, really delighted: 'Go for it Dad!’

“My wife said, 'You'll mess it, you'll mess it up!’ But she said that last time. She's claiming she didn't, but she did."