Soccer: Match United, Celtic chief urges O’Neill

Celtic’s major shareholder Dermot Desmond wants Martin O’Neill to emulate Manchester United, not join them.

But whether the man who has brought the championship back to Parkhead in his first season will get millions to build a squad remains to be seen.

The Ireland-based director said: ‘‘Our aim is that over the next four or five years we can attain the same position as Manchester United of being regular and winning competitors in European competitions.’’

O’Neill already had European experience with Leicester City as a manager and, of course, twice lifted the European Cup as a player with Nottingham Forest.

Now he must achieve what no other Celtic boss has managed to negotiate his team through the qualifying stages to reach the Champions League proper.

Desmond said: ‘‘It will be nice to be in it, that’s the first thing. But to say that we have a team strong enough to win the Champions’ League would be outrageous.

‘‘I’m not going to anticipate the budget there will be, but there will be no surprises for Martin.

‘‘We are looking at the resources that will have to be made available if we are to be competitive in Europe.

‘‘But we’re a public company, reliant on generating results on and off the field. We’re beginning to do that on the field but off it we’re still running at a deficit.

‘‘Yet we have done certain things such as retain our media rights. We set our task last year to rebuild the club on and off the pitch. We have now got a new chief executive Ian McLeod and I hope he performs as well as the new manager.

‘‘But when you win the league, then that’s history. As a club we won’t be complacent. I still recognise the power of Rangers Football Club.’’

Celtic fans might feel they have heard such pronouncements before, albeit from different mouths.

But such is the force of O’Neill’s personality that he is already viewed as a strong enough character to get what he wants from whoever he needs it.

Even Desmond appears to thinks so and is happy to leave O’Neill, who continues to be linked with Manchester United, to his own devices when it comes to planning for success on the pitch.

He said: ‘‘I don’t have to think about the football or the management side of it. First of all Martin has brought in his own coaching staff in John Robertson and Steve Walford, but he has unified them with the existing staff.

‘‘He has also done that on the field with his signings, he’s filled key positions. I don’t really need to think about it because I know Martin is so intensive. He’s not going to listen to my opinion anyway.’’

Yet it is puzzling to many that Celtic do not appear to be trying to tie down their manager to a long-term contract.

Part of the reason could be that Desmond does not appear to believe totally in the power of contracts. Instead, he is trusting O’Neill’s emotional affinity with the club.

Also, Desmond believes that O’Neill had ‘‘taken ownership of the club mentally’’.

But that brings us back to money and the size of the summer transfer budget once again.

Desmond insisted: ‘‘There’s no point being a bankrupt. People take a simplistic view of football expenditure, but when you buy a £5 million player and give him a five-year contract at £1 million a year, then that’s £10 million, not £5 million.

‘‘We can’t make Celtic the size of Manchester United. We have a Celtic budget.’’

But Desmond remains confident O’Neill can continue to bring success to Parkhead, whatever the circumstances.

Indeed, although the new man had inherited a shambles from the previous regime, Desmond was still prepared to back him to achieve what many thought was impossible deny Rangers another championship.

He said: ‘‘I was, I was very confident. I believe that at the start of the league Celtic were 3-1 to win it.

‘‘I backed them at 3-1 to win because that was the wrong price. For the last four to five weeks the bookies have wanted to settle with me.’’

Will he get his sums right again? It won’t be long before we find out.