Martin O'Neill planning 'subtle' Celtic tweaks as Rangers and Hearts addressed amid 'wake-up call' confession

O'Neill returns as the permanent Celtic manager on a one-year contract with the option of a further year after steering the club to a league and Scottish Cup double over two seperate spells in charge last season.

In a turbulent campaign where Celtic trailed Hearts for most of the season, O'Neill returned to replace Wilfried Nancy in January after an initial eight-game stint as interim boss following the resignation of Brendan Rodgers in October.

"Very much so" was the 74-year-old's response to a question over how motivated he felt for the challenges ahead after taking some time to deliberate his future and whether he had the energy to continue.

After resisting the temptation to tinker with the team set-up during a hectic run of fixtures last season, O'Neill intends to use pre-season to introduce some new concepts ahead of the Premiership campaign kicking off against Dundee on August 3 and the Champions League play-off later that month.

"We'll get pre-season, try and get a couple of players in to augment the squad and try and get going," the Northern Irishman told Celtic TV.

"Pre-season gives you all these thoughts of, we could change little things here and there, which I think we probably can do and I think the players can take to it. But the best way to do it and the best way to make these little subtle changes - I'm hoping they'll be subtle - is actually through pre-season. It's working with the players every single day and even though we had a rush of games last season, like four, including European games, in eight or nine days and you think, gosh almighty, you never get a chance to do any of that. Pre-season will give you that."

Celtic in for a ‘tough old time this season’

Celtic pipped Hearts to the league on the final day, finishing two points ahead of the Tynecastle side and 10 clear of third placed Rangers. O'Neill expects another close run title race in the coming season.

"I think we're in for a tough old time this season," he said. "I think Rangers will get stronger, and Hearts won't go down without a fight, there's no question about that. I have felt this, I must admit, that every single time we played the matches, you give the team the respect that they deserve. I thought teams were getting closer to Celtic than perhaps ever before, certainly in recent times, so those are concerns. I've had those concerns all the time, even when I managed 25 years ago, but here it just seems more apparent."

O'Neill described last season as a "wake-up call" for the club and its younger fans who had been accustomed to winning the league more comfortably in recent years.

"For the younger supporter at Celtic, I think it was a really big thing because the last couple of seasons, having the league won sometimes even before the split had taken place, or seeming to be winning easily, this was a real wake-up call.

"A wake-up call for the football club, a wake-up call for maybe the younger supporter. I think the older supporter like myself would probably feel, yeah, that was really terrific, but as far as the younger supporter would think, well listen, Celtic can make mistakes.”

O'Neill will put great emphasis on Celtic winning their Champions League play-off tie in mid-August after detecting that last season's shock defeat to Kairat Almaty had a lasting impact on the domestic campaign.

"The disappointment of last season, not making it into the Champions League because of having a good run the previous year, I think that carried over to league performances," he said. "Malaise is far too strong a word but disappointment and just concern about everything. It just didn't happen, and as a consequence I think we fell down a little bit, but we raised it at the end and now this tie that we will be in, whoever it may be, becomes very important."