Martin O’Neill has been tipped to bring success to Celtic this seasonCeltic manager Martin O’Neill can exorcise the ghosts of the club’s 2003 UEFA Cup final loss to Porto and go all the way in the Europa League this season, according to an English Premier League midfielder.
O’Neill has won 13 of his 16 games in charge of Celtic during his two spells at the club this season – and will be in charge of the club until at least the summer as they fight for silverware both domestically and in Europe.
Currently six points behind league leaders Hearts at the top of the table, the 73-year-old is also looking to progress Celtic to the knockout stages of the Europa League, having secured a last 16 playoff spot with a win against FC Utrecht last month, and former Sweden international Stefan Schwarz believes O’Neill has what it takes to go even further in the competition.“Martin O’Neill is a very experienced manager,” said Schwarz.
“He’s like a little fox. He’s very clever. Very intelligent. He was like that as a player and he is like that now as a manager. He’s very good with his players. He can motivate his players as we’ve seen with Celtic this season.
“He has the tactical awareness, the man management and is good with communicating with the media, and as someone who has that pedigree, I think yes he can take them all the way [in the Europa League]. He’s very good for Celtic.”
Meanwhile, Schwarz admits he doesn’t think 242-goal ex-Parkhead icon Henrik Larsson would be in the frame for a return to the club should they decide to replace O’Neill in the summer.
The 54-year-old hasn’t been involved in management since leavingHelsingborg over nine years ago, but has been loosely linked to the Hoops managerial role in the past, alongside ex-Celtic midfielder Freddie Ljungberg.
However, Schwarz believes the club would be better served by looking at another of his former Sweden teammates should they opt to look to the Scandinavian market for their next head coach.
“Larsson or Ljungberg? I don’t think they are in the right situations to be managers of Celtic,” said Schwarz, speaking to BOYLE Sports. “First of all, Henrik has been out of football for a bit.
Of course, we know he would have all of the respect and reputation and image as a Celtic legend for what he has done for them. Freddie is doing a lot of Swedish TV and has been out of football as well as a manager or coach so it’s not realistic to say that they would be considered as candidates.“Someone like Olof Mellberg could be quite interesting.
He did very well with Brommapojkarna, a small team in the Allsvenskan, Sweden’s Premier League, working on a small budget. He had a conversation with the Swedish FA [about being their national team manager] but they couldn’t agree terms so he went to America and wasn’t so successful. But he is a competitor. His teams are well organised.
“But you know, when you’re talking about big clubs like Celtic or Rangers they need big managers from around the world that have a bigger CV than Mellberg, but you have to start somewhere.”