Celtic Manager Martin O’Neill at post-match media conference. Falkirk v Celtic, Scottish Premiership, Falkirk Stadium, 14 January 2026. Photo Vagelis Georgariou
Martin O’Neill spoke to the media following Celtic’s hard-fought 1-0 victory over Falkirk last night. Here is everything that a proper Celtic manager boss had to say…
Q: Martin, how do you sum up that game, that performance from your team?
Martin O’Neill: “We didn’t play well in the game. We saw it through, and we can play much, much better. Just seems strange in contrast to where we were so good on Saturday and tentative tonight, lost the ball in areas where we shouldn’t have been doing it. Overall, I think Falkirk would have found themselves really unlucky to be behind at half-time in the game. I thought we pressed a bit better in the second half, but overall, we didn’t play well in the game.”
Q: Before looking at the positives, because it is a win on the road and a difficult place to come, why do you think that is, given how good Saturday was?
Martin O’Neill: “You know what, I just thought, certainly in the first half, it seemed, and sometimes you get an impression that it might not have been near, but we were second best, and I thought that we seemed devoid of that real, real energy that is necessary. Obviously, I am delighted to have won the game because we will play better.”
Falkirk Stadium.
Q: What did you say to the players after the full-time whistle? Did you say that it has got to better or did you say, look, let’s put it behind it, it is another three points we have got to get?
Martin O’Neill: “Well, I will have a look at it again anyway. Obviously, there are loads of things that you can improve on, but the most important thing, I have said this often enough, is obviously winning, tonight particularly. Hearts have won as well too, and our margin of error is very, very small really. We dropped a lot of points where winning tonight was the most important thing. We can play much better and we will. Having said this, there are some really decent performances. Kasper makes a great save for us, really, really great save, which he has been doing all his life, in all honesty, and particularly when his dad was here. So, there you are, emulating the father, can’t be bad.”
I disagree with all your appraisals with the exception of :- Schmeical and Scales . It’s a sad fact that a team like Celtic are second best in every department , to Falkirk .
Falkirk , under the tutorage of John McLynne have better , fitter , more skillful players than a club like Celtic . The only difference is that the Falkirk players are paid a fraction of what our ” Duds” are paid .
The Falkirk players were first to every ball and at times you would have thought it was :- Manchester City or Barcelona v’s Celtic . This is how far we have regressed in the last few years ; so the BOARD and BR. should be held to account for Celtic’s monumental decline . We need serious changes at board level and throughout the whole club when Martin O’Neil leaves . What has happened when we have an Academy which hasn’t produced a decent player in years ? What is going on ; when , so called Professional players , cannot beat opponents ,cannot shoot, cannot play a final ball , cannot score penalties nor score from free-kicks ? Our club , despite its wealth is run like an amateur out-fit . Can nobody , at the club see that :- McGregor , Teirney and Hetate are past their sell-buy date ; Engals is over-rated and a waste of money ; Neigren (despite his goals) ; McCowan , Yang and Kenny are simply not ” Celtic Class “. It pains me to critiise Celtic players but the reset button needs to be pressed . Martin O’Neill will be a miracle worker if he manages to win anything with these players .I hope , I am very , very wrong .