That was a PR trainwreck from Celtic yesterday, and the manager certainly didn’t sound convincing

In keeping with the farcical state of things at Celtic at the moment, the club decided to wheel out Martin O’Neill to convince us all that he’s the man to restore order to the club.

I don’t think Martin even managed to convince himself that he was.

He said he’s ‘extremely prepared for it now’.

The Record stated that he delivered an ’emphatic answer on his future’.

You could have fooled me.

Their definition of emphatic and my definition of emphatic are two completely different things.

You see, where I find major fault in what Martin O’Neill said lies in the fact that he believes there wasn’t much between us and the Ibrox side in the last game we played against them

Here’s what he had to say, as reported in the Record:

If you feel like something has dropped away you have got to analyse it. Now, there wasn’t a great deal in some of the games – if we get the equaliser in the R*****s just after half-time it’s a totally different ball game, but it wasn’t to be.

You have to reflect on a few things like that. I did all that, did a bit of self-analysing, and just prepare for the battle.

If Martin O’Neill believes that, then we’ve got serious problems.

At no point did I look at either of the fixtures we played against the Ibrox side and convince myself that we were capable of beating them.

We just did not look capable of competing against them.

If Martin O’Neill accepted that we were miles apart, and that there was work to be done to close that gap, then he might have gone some way towards convincing people that he’s the man for job going forward

But to state, which is delusional, that there wasn’t much between the sides, had the complete opposite effect.

Look, I understand that he can’t come on with a defeatist attitude.

He has to try and convince people that he’s the man for the job.

But that’s where the problem lies.

Nobody was convinced by that interview yesterday.

In fact, if anything, the people who watched it are now more worried than they ever were.

To understand why, just read this:

I think that you only have to look at what happened last season – we are capable of coming from behind to win.

They [the players] will have seen some of these things before. I’m not saying an overreaction to what happened in the week, but it’s something they will have seen before in the past and overcome it.

Maybe other times we have allowed it to drift. The only thing I can say that there determination within the team is there.

Last season, I would agree that after the Dundee United game, we were somewhat capable of coming from behind.

But this season?

I get the fear any time we go behind.

Once again, it’s answers like that from Martin O’Neill that are worrying.

There is no point in referring to last season.

No point in relying on what was achieved last season, that miracle is now in annals of Celtic history

But it seems as if Martin is stuck there, judging by that statement.

We are a completely different team to the team that won the League last season.

A huge chunk of the squad and players we had available to us last season are gone.

This is the problem.

Martin O’Neill is trying to focus on past glories.

Because right now, that’s all he can focus on.

He’s trying to summon the spirit of last season, but the reality is that he doesn’t have many of the players he had last season.

He has ten new players, some of whom are still a bit shellshocked since LASK, and our three losses in a row.

Yesterday’s PR stunt had the total opposite effect it was supposed to have.

Nobody was in any way convinced by it.

If anything, we’re still dreading the next six fixtures.

The only way that changes is if we put a winning run together.

Can you see that happening right now?

No, I didn’t think so.

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