Martin O’Neill was in good form this afternoon and looked fine as he spoke to the mainstream media ahead of the Premier Sports Cup tie at Tannadice against Dundee United. The Celtic manager started with a fitness update on himself!
Martin O’Neill. Northern Ireland. October 1972. Photo IMAGO
Q: Martin, if we could start with a fitness update for yourself. How are you? Fit and raring to go?
Martin O’Neill: “Well, I’ll not be available for tomorrow, but anyway I’m doing fine. Thank you very much for asking.
Q: How was that period, having to be away and maybe trying to manage things from a distance?
Martin O’Neill: “Well, I think they did pretty well without me anyway, so don’t have to worry too much on that score. Yeah, listen, it happens when you get to my age, you might have a few problems. Hopefully it never happens to you, I’m sure it never will. But honestly, I’m getting there.”
9th August 2026; Rugby Park, Kilmarnock, Scotland: Scottish Premiership Football, Kilmarnock versus Celtic; Kasper Hogh of Celtic scores with a header in the 2nd minute to make it 1-0 to Celtic. Photo by Vagelis Georgariou
Q: A good performance and result as you watched on?
Martin O’Neill: “Absolutely, yeah. I watched it on TV. Goal in the first minute of the game, great start. Tough ten minutes after that, I thought Kilmarnock did really, really well. They could have equalised with one that kicked off the line, Trusty I think got his knee to it, but the second goal settled us down. And we took it on from there, which was really good.”
Q: Can you bring us up to speed on Arne Engels and West Ham?
Martin O’Neill: “I would imagine that he’s probably at this minute doing the medical. I think West Ham wanted him to be available for the opening day of the season. Naturally disappointed that he’s leaving the football club. He’s done very well for us, particularly in the couple of spells that I’ve been here. And it’s hard to dissuade him of that. If it hadn’t come up, I think he’d have been happy.
9th August 2026; Rugby Park, Scottish Premiership Kilmarnock versus Celtic; Arne Engels of Celtic on the ball. Photo by Vagelis Georgariou
“He didn’t complain at all even though the offer came in very late from Nottingham Forest in January time. He never moaned about it at all. So it’s an opportunity for him in the end. And it’s really hard to turn it down, It’ll be hard for him. And it’s going to a fantastic football club.”
Q: How do you feel about the timing for you with the big Champions League tie?
Martin O’Neill: “Ideally, I’d love him to have stayed and maybe completed it after the two games. It probably wasn’t going to happen. A wee bit of a concern, I suppose, with the fact that Alistair Johnston played for us when there was an offer on the table and hurt himself. Things like that there may disappear.
I suppose Arne was probably worried the same sort of thing might happen. From a playing viewpoint, I probably can understand it.
Q: What is the latest with Alistair Johnston then?
Martin O’Neill: “He’ll be out for a few weeks. By the time he’s fit it’ll be past the transfer deadline. He’s been very stoic about it really. He played at a very good World Cup. He played here, did a little bit of training with us, we put him into the opening game. He got through that. It’s just a shame for him really. It’s not long term. It’s something that he’ll get over. And he’ll be back. He’s a really good player. Disappointment perhaps. Maybe that disappears. He’ll be back and be raring to go.
9th August 2026; Rugby Park, Scottish Premiership, Kilmarnock versus Celtic; Alistair Johnston of Celtic. Photo by Vagelis Georgariou
“Alistair helped us out immensely in coming in and playing without a great deal of preparation beforehand after the World Cup, you get a couple of weeks break. It’s the same for a lot of international players. But he played without complaining at all. It’s just a bit of a shame. But that’s football.”
Q: Is it different, Martin, to his hamstring injury from last season?
Martin O’Neill: “I think it’s a wee bit lower down. Last year it was high up and hence the operation. But it’s something that he’ll get over. Towards the end of the first half I think he just passed the message on to Shaun and Mark that he was just feeling it a little bit. He’s come off precautionary. I think Shaun used the word. I think we thought that at the time. Scans, one never knows exactly. The scans of course can show something. But I don’t think he’ll be out for long. If you consider let’s say, I’m guessing here, probably mid-September.”
Q: How happy are you with the acquisitions?
Martin O’Neill: “I’m really delighted. I’m delighted with the four players that we brought in. I think the centre-forward, even after the first game and the number of misses that he had. At least he was there. He was trying to score. Could have got one or two goals against Dundee. And followed it up with a hat-trick. So I’m delighted with him.
9th August 2026; Rugby Park, Kilmarnock, Scottish Premiership, Kilmarnock versus Celtic; Kasper Hogh of Celtic celebrates with the match ball after his hat trick. Photo by Vagelis Georgariou
“I think that Duran has been terrific. And I think in time the other two that we’ve signed I think they’ll do really well. I’m obviously hoping that’s going to be the case. But they’ve got good talent.”
9th August 2026; Rugby Park, Scottish Premiership, Kilmarnock versus Celtic; Camilo Duran of Celtic. Photo by Vagelis Georgariou
Q: Are they in a match day squad for tomorrow?
Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, they’re coming with us. Mika’s definitely ahead of Haissem. In the sense that he has played football.
Mika Baur, Celtic FC. Photo Celtic FC
“After the World Cup was over Haissem took a bit of a holiday. He’s come back but didn’t really train with Oviedo and trained on his own with a trainer. It’s a totally different thing really. So this is the first time that he’s really joined in, a couple of days. We’ll see how he is. Taking his fitness, or not full fitness, into consideration.
Welcome to Celtic Haissem Hassan, photo Celtic FC
“But he’s coming with us and we’ll see. I don’t know whether we’ll start with him or not. But I wouldn’t mind to get something in before we played on Wednesday night. But we’ll see.”
Q: Could you expect to make more additions before the Champions League first leg?
Martin O’Neill: “It would be nice. I think that we are making progress. My favourite words. God almighty, even I get fed up with that. We’re making progress about some extra players coming in.”
Q: Is one of those you’re making progress with Landon Emenalo from Chelsea. What can you tell us?
Martin O’Neill: “What can I tell you? I think he’s a really fine young player. I think that obviously we need that position covered because of Kieran. Kieran did exceptionally well last season. Having been plagued with injuries at Arsenal, he came roaring back, which was great.
Landon Emenalo of Chelsea FC runs with the ball during the Sydney Super Cup match between Western Sydney Wanderers and Chelsea FC at Accor Stadium on July 28, 2026 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
“And this young man has definitely got talent. He’s got a bit of an injury at the moment. We’re hoping that that will clear up shortly. And if it does, and I think it will, I’d love to have him. If that’s the case.”
Q: You’ve been asked about this before, Martin, in terms of Callum. Callum made it clear that if the club matches his ambitions with the players that are coming in, then he’s happy to be here. With the lads that you’ve now brought in, has there been that conversation with Callum? Or any reassurance from him?
Martin O’Neill: “I’ve said this before about clubs matching players’ ambitions. I said this to Brian Clough a way back, ‘Did the club match my ambitions?’ And he left me out for four months!
1980 European Cup Final – Nottingham Forest 1 Hamburg 0 . Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough (right) and his assistant Peter Taylor sit on the bench at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, Madrid. Photo IMAGO / Colorsport
“So I don’t think that Callum would ever have said that, to tell you the truth. And if he did, I would have found it a bit strange. He’s not that type of lad. But of course, he’s over 30 years of age now. I think he wanted to know where the club stood with him as much as anything else. And I think that’s been well and truly cleared up. He was super, super for us last season. Really, really super.
“He really knows the club inside out and I think that’s really important. I managed here before where players knew the club and integrated players who didn’t know the club very, very quickly. So that was important.
26 May 2001: Celtic duo Ramon Vega (left) and Paul Lambert celebrate their Scottish cup final win against Hibernian at Hampden Photo: Michael Steele /Allsport
“Just like Paul Lambert bringing the likes of Chris Sutton and people like this into the football club quickly. And telling them what to do and following that up when Neil Lennon arrived. So Callum has that same sort of influence. And it’s really, really positive. You’d probably show something that he probably did say this. But I would be surprised. Really, no, he’s really happy.”
Q: Martin, obviously you mentioned about progress. A lot of fans maybe want it to be quicker. But it seems that the club is going down a different route of going for real quality. Is that something you discussed at the start of the summer?
Martin O’Neill: “Any football manager would say to you, you’d have to have the players in almost the day that you arrived at the football club. That wasn’t going to happen. You had some negotiations to do and all that type of stuff.
Celtic manager Martin O’Neill arrives at the ground ahead of kick off in the Celtic v AC Milan in a pre-season friendly at Celtic Park on July 25, 2026. (Photo by WM Sport Media/Getty Images)
“But overall I think that the message was trying to get quality in. Now the point about it this year is that if you lose some players, as we’ve done, if Arne’s transfer goes through, you’re losing a strong, strong midfield player who can go box to box. You’re going to miss that. So we have to try and replace that. And that’s what we will, even at this late stage, we will definitely try and do.
9th August 2026; Rugby Park, Kilmarnock, Scottish Premiership, Kilmarnock versus Celtic; Arne Engels of Celtic plays the ball away from Aaron Tshibola of Kilmarnock. Photo by Vagelis Georgariou
“I think if you’re talking about quantity, you can sign a lot of, there’s a lot of players out there at this minute. And some players definitely within your budgets and stuff like this and some players outside it. I think you’re just trying to work all the time to get as good as you possibly can to replace some of the players that have left. Even if those players didn’t leave, you still want to augment the squad with a bit of quality.
“Which I felt last season, I thought that we really struggled to score goals. And we did score goals, miraculously. But if you think that sometimes the line-up, you thought, you wondered where you were going to get a few goals. If you fell behind in matches, would you be capable of winning? We did do that in the end. But I think through sheer heart more than anything else. So it’d be nice to get players in that you feel as if we can maybe conjure a goal.”
Q: The recruitment strategy behind the scenes, has it felt different in the summer to January? I know they’re two completely different windows in terms of who’s available. But has it felt like there was a lot of loan players come in back in January?
Martin O’Neill:“Yeah, and that might have been a lot to do with me really as much as anything else. You’re maybe spending a lot of money on some players that a new manager might not suit. Now please don’t think I’m selfless in that. I’m not, absolutely not. I wanted them to suit me at the end of it all. Here you can do something about getting permanent players in. The January transfer window, I’ve known from my own experience, almost feels as if it’s like a loan thing as much as anything else.
“But in terms of recruitment, I’ve got nothing but great admiration for the recruitment staff. They were honestly, tirelessly mentioning players to me, right left and centre, right from the off. Right from the minute they said, you’re going to be back in again this season. So yeah, we’ve been trying our best.
Welcome to Celtic Haissem Hassan, photo Celtic FC
“There are some things that we have not been able to do, and some things hopefully we can still do between now and the end of transfer deadline. It would have been lovely, as I said, to have had some of these players, like Haissem, like Mika, having had some real proper football with us in terms of time on the field before a difficult couple of Champions League qualifying games.
Mika Baur, Celtic FC. Photo Celtic FC
“Outside that, I’m really happy with the boys that are coming in.”
Watch Martin O’Neill’s mainstream media conference below ahead of Celtic’s trip to face Dundee United at Tannadice tomorrow in the late afternoon kickoff…
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