Confirmed - Kevin Ball returns to Sunderland under Kyril Louis-Dreyfus
Former Sunderland boss Martin O’Neill has returned to Celtic as interim manager – just hours after praising Granit Xhaka and taking aim at ex-Black Cats owner Ellis Short.
Brendan Rodgers has stepped down as Celtic manager following a turbulent spell at the club – and will be replaced on an interim basis by former Sunderland boss Martin O’Neill.
The Scottish Premiership champions confirmed Rodgers’ resignation late on Sunday night in a brief club statement, which also revealed that O’Neill, 73, will return to Parkhead 20 years after his first stint as manager. Former Celtic player Shaun Maloney will assist him in the dugout.
Celtic currently sit eight points behind leaders Hearts after a 3–1 defeat at Tynecastle, adding to mounting pressure on Rodgers amid a disappointing European campaign and summer transfer frustrations. His departure came just hours after major shareholder Dermot Desmond accused him of “divisive, misleading, and self-serving” behaviour in a strongly worded open letter to supporters.
O’Neill’s return marks a dramatic twist in Celtic’s season – and comes only hours after he discussed Sunderland’s transformation under Régis Le Bris and took a swipe at former Black Cats owner Ellis Short during a talkSPORT appearance.
When asked by Jim White about his affection for Sunderland, O’Neill said: “I still do, yeah absolutely, and I love it even more now that the old owner Ellis Short has left the football club, which is great. But yeah, it's a fantastic football club, has been for years and years – even when they were at the old Roker Park and I supported them as a kid and listening to their big football matches at a boarding school when I was 11 years of age...”
The Echo has launched a new WhatsApp SAFC channel to bring the latest news, analysis and team & injury updates directly to your phone.Simply click this link to join our SAFC WhatsApp channel.
Turning his attention to Sunderland’s strong Premier League start, O’Neill added: “Well, when you've got that number of points on the board, you feel as if your ambition might change a little bit, but he's absolutely right to say this. The team has just got up this season, they've signed a lot of players, which was great news for them, regardless of whether it takes time for them to gel, and they've done that pretty quickly.
“But most importantly, the side that got promotion, if they'd not done anything about it, would not have been strong enough to have survived this season. So it's been great and the manager must get a great deal of credit, he's pulled them together and there's a great old atmosphere there back at the Stadium of Light, which I'm delighted to see because it's a proper football club.”
O’Neill also reserved special praise for Granit Xhaka’s leadership, describing the Swiss midfielder as a transformative figure in the Sunderland dressing room: “I think he's been fantastic at Sunderland, and all you have to do is listen to a couple of the younger players there talking about his influence, not only on the pitch but off the pitch as well… It seems as if he's really taken to this role… I've got the utmost regard for him and what he's doing there at the football club.”
Continue Reading