Sutton thinks Martin O’Neill should have walked away from Celtic. You know what? He’s right…

Chris Sutton has always shot from the hip when it comes to Celtic.

He tells it like is, and he doesn’t hold back when he feels criticism is warranted.

This morning in the Record, he has aimed plenty of it at Celtic, and called out the current state of things at the club.

Being honest, there isn’t much I can argue with in his article.

Sutton sees it exactly as we do.

He thinks that Martin O’Neill should have walked away when he had the chance, and that Dermot Desmond’s reaction the the incident on Saturday was ‘riddled with rampant hypocrisy’.

Not sure I could have put that any better myself.

Look, there’s no doubt that Sutton has massive respect for Martin O’Neill and what he’s achieved at Celtic

So do I.

But if you read between the lines in his article, Sutton recognises everything we recognise.

Martin O’Neill is too old for this.

And the belief is not there that he can turn it around either.

Sutton touches on the incident with Cameron Carter-Vickers as an example:

Other areas were not properly addressed. It’s left him with a squad that doesn’t look equipped to play in any formation without holes popping up somewhere. Then there is the dissent in the dressing room. Whether Cameron Carter-Vickers meant it or not, his questioning of the coaching resulted in Martin being thrown under the bus.

I’ve said before, back in the day his feet wouldn’t have hit the floor. But the reality is, he needs Carter-Vickers because there are no viable replacements. I don’t know if he will have had some strong words with him but these things definitely need to be sorted in house and everyone has to be singing from the same hymn sheet.

There may be some slack given because Martin might regret what HE said after the Rangers game at Celtic Park. I don’t think he should have been so honest about his own doubts around his future as it didn’t send out the right kind of message.

Reading between the lines here, I get the impression that Chris Sutton is telling us that CCV threw Martin O’Neill under the bus because he doesn’t trust him.

Which makes sense to me because at this moment in time, O’Neill is not a very convincing individual.

Especially if you were to look at his interview the other day.

Now, if the Celtic boss was talking to a group of players in a dressing room in that way, do you believe for one minute that they would have 100% faith in his ideas?

Me neither.

So you can see why CCV said what he said.

He has been pilloried since then from all angles, when in reality, all he did was speak the truth.

Carter-Vickers only confirmed what we all saw.

The setup did look totally random against the Ibrox side.

Sutton then goes on to question Martin O’Neill’s own doubts, and what he said after the game against the Ibrox side.

He’s 100% correct in saying that O’Neill is now obliged to walk back all of those comments in his next media conference, which should be today.

A lot of people will be waiting with great interest to see how he handles that one.

The way he handles it will dictate the belief, or lack thereof, that we’ll have in him going forward.

Once again, I want to point out that Martin O’Neill hasn’t put himself in this position, the board has.

Even when it comes to the incident at St. Andrews, he cannot win.

Because as Sutton rightly points out, the Celtic boss is stuck between a rock and a hard place:

That brings us back to O’Neill and why I feel for him right now. You have Desmond and the board on one side and a section of angry fans on the other – and a chasm in between. O’Neill is never going to criticise Desmond or the club in public, even if he might feel privately he’s been let down in some areas, because that is not how he operates.

But if he backs Desmond then he’s going to rile up some of the fans in the process and be seen as some kind of shield for the board. He’s stuck right in the middle between a rock and a hard place, trying to act as peacemaker again while also trying to win games.

Martin O’Neill should never be in that position.

He should never have to act as peacemaker in this situation because that is not his job.

His job is to manage the football team.

Yet we all know today that the SMSM journalists are going to be like a pack of vultures.

Waiting to swoop in on O’Neill and ask him all about last weekend.

The football will be seocndary here.

Some of the more cynical in the press pack will know that this is going to cause further division at a club that is already tearing itself apart

So there’s no doubt they’ll try to bait Martin O’Neill into taking sides on this one.

And let’s be fair, just like Chris Sutton knows, we all know he will side with the man who pays his wages.

Sutton recognises that it will rile up elements of the fanbase, and he’s right.

It will even rile me up.

But not because I’ll be angry at Martin O’Neill, I’m livid that the board and Desmond have put him in this position with their incendiary statement last weekend.

He should never have to front up for that.

Yet everybody knows he’s going to be made the fall guy for this.

The press pack will walk him into this trap.

O’Neill can try to side-step it, but it will be virtually impossible.

One way or another, he’ll have to declare his allegiances on this one.

It’s going to make for an interesting few days.

But you know what?

I think Chris Sutton was 100% correct in his assertion that Martin O’Neill should have walked away when he had the chance.

I can’t help but feel he’s going to regret not doing so sooner, rather than later.

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