Martin might not say it but he’ll start new season while coping with eccentricities of a hierarchy who consistently must try his patience
O’Neill’s jocular tone can’t make light of serious issues at Celtic
HIS name might be Camilo Duran but Celtic’s new £6million signing had better be able to fight his corner like the legendary Roberto Duran.
Camilo’s from Colombia, Roberto was Panamanian, but country of origin is less important in this case than attitude of mind.
Duran the boxer was known as “Hands of Stone” during a stellar career that brought him world titles in four different weight divisions.
Duran the footballer has to avoid any hint he’s got feet of clay and must hit the ground running at his new club.
I feel sorry for him already. When you’re the first summer signing after four weeks’ laborious plodding in the transfer market by your new employers, you must deal with the pent-up frustrations of fans driven to distraction by the dithering that is easily detectable on a biannual basis inside what passes for Celtic’s mission control.
The kind of dithering that has caused Celtic to go 13 months without buying anyone to replace the outstanding goalscorer that was Kyogo Furuhashi.
Whether he likes it or not, Camilo will now be seen as the long-awaited heir to the Japanese striker’s throne.
Nobody said life was fair. Just ask Martin O’Neill.
He was brought in to stabilise a club rocked by the departure of Brendan Rodgers midway through last season.
He was then allowed to go while Celtic experimented with the allegedly permanent hire of Wilfried Nancy.
Just 33 tortuous days later, Martin was back to restore calm after Nancy had brought the support to breaking point.
Having won what was arguably the least-expected league and cup Double in the club’s 138-year-long history, it took weeks for Celtic to renew Mar tin’s contract and reassemble the coaching duo of Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham who helped make that success possible.
O’Neill claims he caused uncertainty by delaying the agreement of his own deal to begin with – but that’s not how I remember it.
Martin’s deal was done and I wrote here he should have waited until Maloney and Fotheringham were re-signed before putting pen to paper.
Now O’ Ne i l l is contemplating a new season while coping with the eccentricities of a hierarchy who must regularly try his patience, even if he chooses not to say so.
The Celtic manager, as is his way, was back to dressing up serious matters in a jocular fashion when he spoke after a collection of players under contract to the club – as opposed to being essential to the Hoops under normal circumstances – had drawn with Shelbourne in a pre-season friendly in Dublin last Tuesday night.
On the subject of Duran’s arrival from Qarabag in Azerbaijan, Martin said: “I do think he’ll be a good addition. Famous last words.”
But then O’Neill added: “I think maybe we could do with somebody who could put the ball in the net.”
It was the conversational equivalent of the iron fist inside the velvet glove, roughly translated as: “Duran better be as good as we think he is or we’ve trouble on our hands.”
Addressing the topic of who might follow Duran into a club who have a Champions league qualifier to face in a month’s time, Martin observed: “I’m hoping in the not-too-distant future, maybe in the next couple of weeks, we will have some really decent players.”
On the basis it took Celtic a month to get one in the door, the odds against signing a raft of them inside a fortnight would appear to be long.
Then again, it’s Celtic we’re talking about. Their approach to transfer windows long ago brought logic and reason into disrepute.
Dermot Desmond was a visitor to Tolka Park on Tuesday. He’s put £30million into Celtic since 1994.
In return, he has a profile that suits him and has recouped somewhere in the region of £7.5m in dividends.
If Arne Engels and Daizen Maeda are sold in this window, as is expected, Celtic will have way in excess of £100m in the bank.
They lost a £40m windfall by failing to qualify for the Champions League last term, partly on the back of a failure to upgrade their squad.
To do that twice in a row would enrage the fanbase.
A temperature check will be able to be taken next weekend where customer relations are concerned. Last time the fans were inside Celtic Park was the final day of the league season in May, a time of excitement on an unparalleled scale, complete with a pitch invasion.
O’Neill thanked the fans for giving him a “reason to live” during an emotional address following the defeat of Hearts.
The friendly game against Middlesborough on Saturday will provoke audience participation of an altogether different sort unless Martin’s fortnight deadline for more signings has been met with a suitably productive response.
“We need a few players,” the manager said in Dublin. “It’s as simple as that.”
Nothing is ever as simple as that at Celtic Park.
The sight of Michel-Ange Balikwisha and Shin Yamada facing Shelbourne was a reminder of how complicated things can become concerning recruitment, as O’Neill strains to deal with the single issue that could drive a wedge between the manager and the club quicker than anything else in the weeks ahead.
The manager has reverted back to that iron fist inside a velvet glove and delivered the homespun philosophy by which he will be guided when the serious stuff starts at home and in Europe.
He has gone on record as saying: “You only belong where you end up being.”
Politicians would call it a memorandum of understanding for the benefit of a Celtic hierarchy who give the impression they need regular reminders of their responsibilities.
Recruitment is the single issue that could drive wedge between manager and the club