Celtic's Martin O'Neill Under Pressure After Defeats

Simon Jordan has called on Martin O'Neill to show more steel after the Celtic manager publicly questioned whether he should stay in the job following a bruising run of results.

Celtic’s week has unravelled at speed. Three defeats in seven days, two of them to Rangers, have stripped away the early-season optimism and left serious questions hanging over a side that looked so assured only a few weeks ago.

It started with a jolt at Ibrox. A 3-0 defeat to Rangers in the Scottish League Cup quarter-final, a scoreline that stung as much for the manner of the loss as the margin. Then came the league meeting at Celtic Park, and the chance for an immediate response.

It never arrived.

Rangers left the east end of Glasgow with a 1-0 win, ending Celtic’s perfect start to their Scottish Premiership campaign and deepening the sense of unease around O’Neill’s team.

Wedged between those Old Firm blows was another setback. Hungarian side Ferencvaros came to town in the Europa League curtain-raiser and left with a victory, compounding the feeling that Celtic’s season has veered off course before it has truly settled.

The numbers are stark. Celtic have now lost four matches in all competitions this season, already matching the total number of defeats they suffered across 35 games last term.

O’Neill, 74, signed a one-year deal in June after returning in January as caretaker and driving the club to a Premiership and Scottish Cup double. It was supposed to be a triumphant final act, a short, sharp extension of a glory run.

Instead, after the latest loss to Rangers, he sounded unsure.

"I genuinely will reflect and see," he said when asked about his future. "It's a matter of whether I can help the team. If that's the case – the manager's supposed to be able to do that. I will have a look at that there this week."

Those words jarred with Simon Jordan.

The former Crystal Palace chairman expected defiance from a manager of O’Neill’s stature, not introspection.

"I've liked to see him being a bit spikier and a bit more robust, rather than sounding relatively defeated in that clip," Jordan told talkSPORT, making it clear he wanted a very different tone from the Celtic boss.

For Jordan, this was the moment to draw a line, not question his place in the dugout.

"I certainly would have been wanting to say back to them, 'This has happened, it will not happen again,'" he added.

Instead, O’Neill chose to talk about whether he can still help the team and whether this is his time to step aside.

"The fact that he's talking about whether he can help the team and whether it's his time – I find that slightly strange of Martin, but he's having a reflective moment," Jordan said.

Reflective or not, the next week now feels pivotal. Celtic need a response. And O’Neill needs to decide whether he’s the one who can still drag it out of them.