'Need their heads examined' - Martin O'Neill slams Celtic protestors and addresses Kasper Schmeichel form

On a difficult night at Celtic Park where goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel was booed by some fans for his part in the Germans' goals, O'Neill was left perturbed by events on and off the pitch as Celtic's hopes of progression were all but ended ahead of next week's second leg.

Celtic were outclassed by the visitors, who netted through Bilal El Khannous (2), Jamie Leweling and Tiago Tomas. The hosts briefly found parity during the first half when Benjamin Nygren scored his 17th goal of the season but that was a scant positive.

The match was disrupted seconds after kick-off when a number of multi-coloured balls were chucked on to the field of play in a protest against the club's board. O'Neill questioned the logic of such actions and argued that they served to help Stuttgart.

“Anybody who thinks that is a good idea needs their heads examined," O'Neill said. "Really. I’ve been a manager at this football club when teams like Juventus were scared stiff coming here. It was like a cause that embraced players, managers, and crowd, everything. The whole thing. Can you imagine being a Stuttgart player here, you are worried about the crowd. The atmosphere to begin with was fantastic, and suddenly that happens.

“One it disrupts the game, obviously. And if you are a Stuttgart you start to think ‘I don’t feel too bad here’ instead of being intimidated by the situation.

“That helps no-one.”

‘Not great for a fantastic club like this’

O'Neill was asked whether it had an effect on his players. “Who is to say what it does?" he continued. "I think there was a disruption like this earlier in the season was it the Dundee game? It wasn’t in my time but it is now. I genuinely don’t see the point in it. It doesn’t help. More to the point, it’s the impact it has on the opposition.”

“[Interim chairman] Brian Wilson was having chats with different groups and we were hoping something good can come from that. But that’s not great to see and not great for a fantastic football club like this.”

O'Neill claimed not to hear the booing of Schmeichel. The Celtic goalkeeper made weak attempts to save Stuttgart's first and third goals and gave more ammunition to his growing army of critics.

“All I would say is we played Feyenoord in a game we probably had to win and I think it was 1-1 at the time and he made an unbelievable save," O'Neill said in defence of his keeper. "Otherwise we wouldn’t be here now. This is a team game. And we all have to deal with it.”

Probed further as to whether Schmeichel would be No 1 for the rest of the season, O'Neill said of the 39-year-old: “Who knows what might happen at the end of it all. I would say is Kasper Schmeichel has played so many games and he has had some dips in his time and he has come roaring back.”

O'Neill is long enough in the tooth to understand that trailing 4-1 from the first leg, the Stuttgart tie is all but done. “It is very, very difficult obviously, and we are travelling away from home," he said. "Our focus at the minute is Sunday [against Hibs].

“In time Celtic will be able to compete deep into European competitions. It’s not there at this minute. The money in the game is major, we’re talking about Premier League teams and Bundesliga sides. Premier League particularly pay £80m for players who don’t even get into the team.

“That is what you are competing against. It’s a difficult one. But that is for another day, another conversation. It was a disappointing night for us. We have conceded some poor goals. It’s a long way back.”

It was put to O'Neill that he and his players could do without a trip to Germany next week given their commitments domestically as they face a three-way battle for the Premiership. “They’re not going to postpone it,” the manager said, wryly.