O'Neill urges club to end contract uncertainty

Martin O’Neill has urged the Celtic hierarchy to pick up the phone and end the uncertainty over his future at the club.

The Parkhead boss met with plc chairman Brian Quinn and majority shareholder Dermot Desmond last week to discuss whether he will extend his current deal beyond the end of the season.

O’Neill admits he has not heard from the Celtic board since the first round of talks but he expects those discussions will resume in the very near future.

He said: “There’s not a thing to report on my own situation and I haven’t spoken to them.

“I haven’t spoken to the chairman since but I would expect to get a phone call soon.”

O’Neill joked that his own situation remains Celtic’s top priority but he is also hopeful that Stilian Petrov will put pen to paper on a new deal in the next couple of weeks.

The midfielder was quoted in the Bulgarian press last week as saying that he would leave Parkhead if O’Neill did not stay beyond the end of the season.

But the Hoops boss is confident that Petrov – who has gone from strength to strength since O’Neill took over – will be keen to pledge his future to the club.

He said: “It’s news to me that he wants to leave – I don’t see it like that and would actually think it would be the opposite.

“His agent is coming up in the next week or so – possibly to watch the Blackburn game – and we’ll sit down then and try to tie up a few loose ends that should have been sorted a few months ago.

“The negotiations were left at the time because of our involvement with the Champions League and we haven’t really had the opportunity to sit down since.

“But we were not a million miles away before and I think Stilian wanted to put pen to paper.

“I’m certainly not saying that someone would stay here forever but, if there is an agreement, I see him continuing to play well for us for the foreseeable future.”

One player who is less content with his own situation is John Hartson.

The Welshman is believed to be unhappy at not being given the chance to play regular first-team football and Serie A sides Reggina and Como have both been linked with the striker.

O’Neill believes Hartson is good enough to play in Italy’s top flight but he is keen to hold onto the big striker – claiming he played a major part in Celtic’s championship success last season.

He added: “John wants to play for Celtic and he wants to prove himself here and, personally speaking, I think he has already done that.

“He feels he is good enough to play in the side and I can’t disagree with him - I don’t think we would have succeeded in the championship had he not been here.

“I don’t know about the teams in Italy but sometimes the manager is the last person to know and it doesn’t mean that they aren’t monitoring him.

“He has already proved he can play in the Premiership – and I think he could play anywhere – but of course I would like to keep him.”