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Martin O'Neill is adamant he’ll only be keeping the seat warm for the next Celtic manager — even if his team beat Rangers in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final.
Placed in interim charge following Brendan Rodgers’ shock resignation on Monday, the 73-year-old enjoyed a memorable return to the Parkhead dugout with a 4-0 win over Falkirk two days later.
Twenty years after last leading the side out at Hampden, O’Neill will now seek to end a difficult week for the club in style with a victory over Danny Rohl’s side.
With the final taking place on December 14, a Celtic win would open the possibility of his temporary arrangement being extended until the end of the year.
But while O’Neill feels he’s still got a point to prove in his 70s, he can’t yet envisage a situation where he his second spell in Glasgow turns into a long-term proposition.
Asked if he’d had any good offers in the six years since he last managed, he said: ‘After Nottingham Forest, I think I, stupidly kind of hid away. I never had anybody working for me. I’ve never had an agent my whole time anyway.
Martin O'Neill insists he is just keeping the seat warm until Celtic appoint a full-time boss
O'Neill and Shaun Maloney were unveiled as the interim managerial team earlier this week
Celtic bounced back from defeat at Tynecastle on Sunday with a big win over Falkirk midweek
‘Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t feel great about it (being sacked), particularly at a club where I’d spent 10 years as a player with a fair amount of success. So, yeah, I didn’t feel great.
‘I think I just hid away for a while, and then by the time you could do something else, the game is up and running. Listen, you’re forgotten very, very quickly in the game. I totally understand that. I genuinely understand that.
‘You’ve had your time and that’s it. I don’t think this is a renaissance. I just think this is a fill-in. We’ll see on Sunday.
‘There’s an international break coming up and I genuinely haven’t spoken to Mr (Dermot) Desmond.
‘I spoke to him the other night there, but I think my remit was that they would be looking for somebody pretty quickly.’
As things stand, Celtic are looking to find a permanent replacement for Rodgers, with Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna thought to be top of the wanted list.
But while O’Neill hasn’t entertained the prospect of sticking around for longer, he contends that his will to win is as strong as it’s ever been.
‘Do you know what I think?’ he added. ‘I genuinely think you’re always trying to prove a point. I think you are, regardless.
‘I think it was the same as a player, whatever it may be. I know I’ve referred to Brian Clough before, but I always feel as if I was trying to prove him wrong rather than right.
‘That’s why I probably felt jealous of John Robertson. John used to get the nice little sign of approval, and I used to get the fingers.
‘I was always trying to prove him wrong. So, in that sense, yeah, the same thing.’
O'Neill admits he has heard plenty of good things about new Rangers manager Danny Rohl
Despite talking down Rangers and Celtic — and talking up Hearts — when he was working as a pundit on radio earlier this week, O’Neill insists he’s expecting a stern test from the Ibrox side, with Rohl having now presided over back-to-back league victories.
‘I’ve heard a lot of good things — and I think I said this even before I got this job — about the manager,’ added O’Neill, who is being assisted by Shaun Maloney.
‘I think a lot of the players at Sheffield Wednesday were very complimentary about him.
‘So, he will have gone in there now and that was a big win for them there at Easter Road, a really big win.
‘They’ll be going to the game with plenty of confidence themselves.’
Marcelo Saracchi didn’t train on Friday, but O’Neill expects him to be available for selection along with Kieran Tierney.
