Martin O’Neill said his appetite was whetted by winning a double last month to deliver “more days like those” at Celtic, after he was confirmed as their manager on a one-year contract with a one-year option.
O’Neill had two interim spells last season and finished it by securing the Scottish Premiership title on a dramatic final day and beating Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup final.
“It is once again a great privilege for me to continue as Celtic manager,” O’Neill said. “Last season will live long in all our memories and to be part of that success has in a big way whetted the appetite to work again for more days like those and bring our supporters those moments.”
The 74-year-old manager has won nine major honours at Celtic, where he was also manager from 2000–05, and said: “We know of course that Celtic can never rest on past success so we are now aiming to drive forward together in the coming season as we aim to deliver again for the club and our fans.”
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Before O’Neill’s appointment Robbie Keane held talks with Dermot Desmond, Celtic’s principal shareholder, but his potential appointment was met with a furious backlash by an element of the support, who objected to his managerial spell in Israel. Keane was in charge of Maccabi Tel Aviv before switching to Hungary and Ferencvaros, from whom he resigned at the end of May.
Desmond said of O’Neill: “We know he is a winner, we know what the club means to him and he continues to be the outstanding candidate to give us the best opportunity to realise our objectives.”
He indicated that O’Neill would be backed in the transfer market. “The club will support Martin fully again across the close season to make sure we are well prepared to achieve domestic success and compete on the European stage.”
Elsewhere, José Mourinho’s return as Real Madrid manager has been confirmed. The 63-year-old, who was in the dugout at the Bernabéu from 2010 until 2013, joins the 15-times European champions from Benfica on a three-year contract.
Mourinho’s appointment comes after a torrid season at Real Madrid, with Xabi Alonso sacked in January amid player unrest. Álvaro Arbeloa came in as interim head coach, but failed to turn around the campaign as Real exited the Champions League to Bayern Munich at the quarter-final stage and Barcelona cantered to the La Liga title. Disharmony within the squad also continued, with Fede Valverde taken to hospital to have stitches after a confrontation with his teammate Aurélien Tchouaméni.
Florentino Pérez, who was re-elected as president last Sunday, made Mourinho his target and will hope the Portuguese can restore order to the dressing room and success on the pitch. Mourinho won La Liga in the 2011-12 season, along with the Copa del Rey in 2010-2011. He achieved phenomenal feats in the early part of his managerial career, winning the Champions League with Porto and Inter and three Premier League titles across two spells at Chelsea.
Mourinho returned to Benfica, where he had started his managerial career, last September and guided them to an unbeaten league season, but that was enough only for third place. He has also had recent spells in charge of Fenerbahce in Turkey and Roma in Italy.
On Wednesday Benfica said they would receive €15m (£13m) in compensation for Mourinho from Madrid and that an agreement had been reached for Marco Silva to take over on a two-year deal with an option to extend for a season. Silva left Fulham last week after five years.
