SPL: O'Neill pleads for Lambert to extend stay

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill today urged Paul Lambert to sign a new contract to keep him at the club beyond 2003.

The former Scotland star and European Cup winner, who recently quit the international stage, has expressed his desire to leave Parkhead and even head to America when his current deal expires in two years’ time.

But the Celtic boss has pleaded with the 32-year-old inspirational midfielder and is confident that Lambert will decide to put his retirement on hold.

‘‘Paul Lambert said he wanted to pack it in 2003 when his contract is up,’’ said O’Neill.

‘‘But the way he is going at the moment I think he could definitely stay another year at least.

‘‘He is a fit 32 years old and he can definitely play on an extra year here and that is something we will be looking at doing.

‘‘I’m sure he will be willing to do that. I am not going to sit down with him every single day trying to convince him otherwise because I’ve got to win football matches.

‘‘But I’m going to give him a bit more convincing and hopefully he will stay beyond his contract.’’

O’Neill has already begun talks with winger Bobby Petta’s agent Peter Harrison with his contract also due to expire in June 2003.

The former Leicester boss had originally planned to postpone contract discussion until the new year, but the Dutchman’s form since his arrival in Glasgow over two years ago has convinced him to have a rethink.

O’Neill added: ‘‘I’ve spoken to Bobby Petta’s agent even though while I’ve been here he’s never once talked about it.

‘‘It’s important that we sit down and try to sort something out, but he has showed signs of getting back to his best and on his day he is a handful.

‘‘I’d like to do something about that and the other people I will look at those contracts after Christmas.’’

But while O’Neill has been delighted with 36-year-old playmaker Lubo Moravcik’s contribution this season he admits that he would not be able to stand in his way if a coaching job came up elsewhere.

‘‘Lubo has expressed an interest in going into coaching,’’ he explained.

‘‘But if I gave them (Moravcik and Tom Boyd) coaching roles then there would be no job for me.

‘‘At this minute he has been doing very well for us, but it’s written in his contract that if anything came up he could go and we’d have to let him go.’’

O’Neill also denied that winger Didier Agathe needed another operation on his injured knee.

There were fears that the initial surgery to cure the ligament damage had not been successful after he was injured at Hearts last month.

But the Irishman is hoping that rest could be enough to see the player return to action as early as February.

‘‘There’s nothing new at this minute,’’ admitted O’Neill. ‘‘He has been making recent progress.

‘‘He has gone home for Christmas because he was getting a little frustrated with this kind of injury.

‘‘But the doctor and the physio are prepared to wait a little while longer to see if it gets better and they feel he might need some recuperation time.

‘‘Nothing else might be needed, but I don’t expect to him to be back before February.

‘‘He’s naturally a very fit lad and it wouldn’t take a great length of time for him to recover and after some sort of work in January he should come back in February.’’

Even by Christmas the championship could be wrapped up as victory over Dundee at Parkhead tomorrow they could see them extend their lead over Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premier League to a massive 14 points.

Ivano Bonetti’s sixth-place side finally look like putting some consistency together, but O’Neill admits they are still hard to predict.

‘‘I saw them against St Johnstone last week and there’s no doubt that they are a talented team on their day,’’ insisted O’Neill.

‘‘They are a very capable side and they have caused us plenty of problems when they played us.

‘‘I’m actually looking forward to playing them, but you never know what you are going to get with them.’’