Celtic fans' hopes that manager Martin O'Neill was on the verge of committing himself to a long-term deal have been shot down by the man himself.
Following last night's 3-2 friendly win at Portsmouth, O'Neill rubbished a report in the Irish Voicemagazine, an American publication.
The magazine had quoted him saying: "I want to see this job through and I am talking about a new long-term deal.
"I am very confident we can come to an agreement and that will end all the talk of a move to any other club."
But O'Neill, who is in the final year of the three-season contract that brought him to Parkhead, insisted that no agreement was on the horizon.
He said: "I've never heard of that interview - it's as simple as that.
"I have a year left to run and I know that there are a number of things the board and (director) Dermot Desmond would like to do to push the club forward.
"I would imagine that those sorts of things are going to be discussed and talked about.
"In the course of those events, as the manager of the club with one year left to run on my contract, I would assume that discussions will happen in terms of a contract."
Leeds United's appointment of Terry Venables to succeed David O'Leary finally ended more than a week of intense speculation about O'Neill's position.
Yet until he commits himself to a new deal, the fans fears that he might soon be leaving will persist.
And he hinted that his Parkhead shelf-life could depend on the success of the club's efforts, along with rivals Rangers, to leave the Scottish Premier League for a more lucrative home.
He said: "There has been the idea of going into the Nationwide League with the eventual possibility of Celtic and Rangers getting into the Premiership.
"That has been blocked but I don't know for how long. But Dermot Desmond, the chief executive and the chairman are all trying to push the club along.
"I didn't initially come up here to think about managing Celtic in another league but obviously as we have gone forward we have been talking about television revenues and other possibilities.
"Celtic and Rangers are massive but we are talking about whether they are good enough to play in Europe.
"The best way to prosper in European football is to have top quality players. It's as simple as that." - PA