Martin O'Neill makes 'obnoxious' admission in bid to end Celtic civil war with message to fans and board

O’Neill believes it would be “obnoxious” of him to think he can be the sole catalyst to bring warring parties together, but he hopes the supporters recognise how much a unified stadium can help the team as they attempt to rein-in Hearts as well as Rangers.

Fan representatives have made steps towards reconciliation. The Celtic Fans Collective has appealed directly to interim chairman Brian Wilson in a bid to find some common ground after O’Neill replaced the sacked Wilfried Nancy, who lost four league games inside a month to leave the champions in third place in the Premiership.

The umbrella group remains intent on achieving personnel change in key executive roles but has proposed sitting down with Wilson amid ongoing talk of boycotts and an indefinite suspension of the Green Brigade, the fans ultras group.

O’Neill is keen to play a part and his return along with the sacking of Nancy and Paul Tisdale, the unpopular head of football operations, has helped take an edge off the fans’ anger. He agreed a unified Celtic Park could only benefit the team.

O’Neill wants Celtic unison

“In the longer, or even shorter term, I wouldn't mind having a meeting with a group of people just for people airing their grievances and things like this,” said O’Neill. “But, listen, I'm a football manager. It's ridiculous of me and rather obnoxiously ridiculous of me to think that I can resolve a problem.

‘What you can do is, and I think this is maybe your point, is have a bit of a truce. I'd love it if the stadium was absolutely ready to go and ready to support the players through thick and thin because it will be a difficult time.

"When I came here (last time) I kind of half-joked about how (Daizen) Maeda or (Reo) Hatate wouldn't know if that's the case (ill-feeling). But it does wear you down a bit, you know. It would be nice to have people together, but that's unfair of me to think that I would be able to do anything about it.

"We'd have to try and win the football matches and that quells things for a little while. That's all it does. But eventually, eventually, at some stage, whatever comes and goes, the board and supporters will have to come back into unison.”

The Celtic Collective statement also stated a desire to “move towards a period of reconciliation and systemic change”. It added: “We are calling on Brian Wilson and representatives of Celtic Football Club to meet with Celtic Fans Collective on the spirit of reconciliation and a genuine desire to achieve unity.”

The fans’ group has also argued that chief executive Michael Nicholson and finance officer Chris McKay should step aside “given their stated responsibility for the appointments” of Tisdale and Nancy”. The statement also claimed as many as 142 supporter buses contacted the steering group to call for a boycott of an upcoming match following Saturday’s 3-1 defeat by Rangers, although that was before O’Neill’s appointment.

The Northern Irishman is certainly on board with the call for unity, starting this weekend against Dundee United.

“Of course, I think that’s what we would all like," he said. "I get back to the (main) point: at this minute I have to just genuinely focus on trying to win a game or two and that does help. It doesn’t solve the problem but it might help quell things for a while or calm things down for a while.”

Something O’Neill has distanced himself from is succeeding Peter Lawwell as chairman, as has been mooted. Lawwell stepped down from the role late last year citing “intolerable treatment” from a section of the club’s support. O’Neill is happier donning a pair of Copa Mundials on the training pitch that chairing board meetings.

“I put that (story) out myself!” he said. “I’d like to be owner! I’ve always said there were two jobs I always wanted. I wanted to be assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson, because that’s the job of the century. You don’t have any responsibility, he’ll take it all, and you’ll be in a job for life.

“The other job was to be director of football of any club. I get to sign the players and the manager gets the blame!”