Dermot Desmond faces a more difficult Celtic decision than many assume

For all the upheaval, upset, protests and apparent crises that have engulfed Celtic over the last 12 months, they find themselves in a position not too dissimilar to the end of May 2025.

There are three months to go until a crucial Champions League qualifier, for which they’re guaranteed to be seeded, that would grant them direct access to a lucrative eight-game League Phase.

One man holds the key to decisions that will determine whether they’re prepared for it, or not. Dermot Desmond, officially designated as the ‘person with significant control’ of Celtic Plc by Companies House, remains the figure that overall strategy will run through at the Scottish champions this summer.

His initial call on who is named manager will colour the entire effort to rebuild the squad, coaching staff and executive team. Everyone at the club has more work to do than ever despite double success.

Dermot Desmond was in attendance for Celtic's title triumph versus Hearts. (Image: PA)

The consensus in the wake of Martin O’Neill’s rescue job is that the position is his if he wants it. He pulled eight points and then six points back on Hearts in two separate interim spells to win his fourth career league title. It was powerful stuff to witness in real time.

For players, pundits and a large section of supporters, he’s earned the right to determine his own future when he meets with Desmond this week to discuss the road forward.

In fact, it’s not that easy an equation for Desmond to balance. This is a difficult decision, multifaceted and loaded with potential pitfalls, that he must get right.

The wrong call would risk another season dogged by cries of stagnation and the further alienation of paying supporters who are the lifeblood of a company where profits have tumbled without that Champions League cash.

The case for Martin O’Neill’s stay

While it’s been an emotional fortnight for everyone of a Celtic persuasion, the case for O’Neill extending his relationship with the club goes well beyond dewy-eyed romanticism. He has earned the right to be in consideration.

His winning percentage this season was a staggering 80 per cent, 28 victories from 35 matches, with three draws and four defeats. He was already the most winning Celtic manager in history, but even this win rate exceeds any of the five seasons he enjoyed between 2000 and 2005.

“I probably haven't felt more confident under a manager,” a reflective Liam Scales said this week.

This is a feeling that runs through the Celtic squad. From Uruguayan Marcelo Saracchi to the Japanese Daizen Maeda, young Callum Osmand and veteran Callum McGregor – a 74-year-old from the tiny village of Kilrea brought exactly what was required to their Celtic experience at a time they thought hope had evaporated from what was a dismal season.

Martin O'Neill celebrates Celtic's double success. (Image: PA)

To say goodbye, even with deep gratitude, risks taking this squad back to a place they don’t want to be, working under a manager who may not be anywhere near as popular,  nor as able to tune into the human element of football that is being left behind by a game increasingly obsessed with data and analysis.

Part of the reason Wilfried Nancy failed is because players, and supporters, had been entirely caught up in the ride of a nostalgic and fist-thumping interim run of O’Neill in the weeks prior. By invoking the O’Neill totem, Celtic had already set themselves up for a jarring collapse that Nancy did not have the experience or personality to overcome.

This is an inevitable comparison that would exist this summer and in the early stages of next season, too. Were Desmond to decide that, actually, O’Neill is not the one for Celtic and that he’s best being sent back to radio and television studios, the new man could well be on a hiding to nothing from the start.

So, what’s the problem? Why is this not a slam dunk easy decision that the club should have already committed to and announced?

O’Neill has already laid out why he might not fit

To be entirely fair to a man who has shown no sign of decline, it can be tempting not to consider O’Neill’s age at all with regard to his suitability for the job. Yet, he is the one who keeps bringing it up and it’s him who has already communicated what he doesn’t have an appetite for going forward, as much as what he does.

Yes, he’s become addicted to competition, winning and the new lease of life he’s felt these past months. He’s had an elite career in football as both a player and a manager. He’s one of the most successful ever in the game. Partly why is because he becomes so obsessed with the day-to-day task at hand, but it takes a toll.

“I would be thinking that the football club to go forward properly, would probably be looking at somebody younger,” O’Neill said candidly at Hampden.

“If you're asking me would you have a project or something for years for example, no, I couldn't do that. I must be in consideration for the job, even though it might only be for a very short term. I couldn't do the spell you're talking about, a project.”

The Celtic squad celebrate title success with Martin O'Neill. (Image: PA)

Desmond’s decision then becomes less about O’Neill versus another candidate and more about a year of kicking the can down the road and committing to a multi-year path towards where Celtic could and should be in 2030.

This is a football club in urgent need of a change in approach, modernisation and re-alignment of where it sits in Scottish and European football. Clubs are coming for their crown at home and quickly leaving them behind abroad. There is really no time to waste in addressing these challenges.

Is there a way to have the best of both worlds? The wisdom, experience and confidence that O’Neill brings to Celtic, combined with the structure, executive expertise and bold decisiveness the club needs to keep up with peers?

This must be what Desmond and the rest of the board are trying to weigh up, but it requires the perfect answer with the perfect timing that they’ve frankly not been able to demonstrate they are capable of over the last 18 months.

Whatever the club do here will be perceived as a risk from critics. Pursue an alternative to O’Neill and they’re taking the absurd decision to part with an iconic legend with the best winning record in history. Progress with O’Neill and they’re relying on one man’s Midas touch that could run out and leave them open to accusations of failing to plan and prepare, again.

The best outcome for all concerned may be for O’Neill himself to determine this is the best time to say goodbye. Perhaps if an exit is pitched as his decision and his recognition that he cannot take on a multi-year project, and so must step aside for the greater good, it could be the fresh start that the club and a new manager needs without the baggage of this year’s success.

Unexpectedly, perhaps the best thing for Celtic’s future is O’Neill saying no to the club, and no to Desmond, for the first time in his career.