Quinn determined to keep O'Neill

Celtic chairman Brian Quinn has vowed to do everything within his power to keep manager Martin O’Neill at Parkhead as talk of a return to the Barclaycard Premiership mounts.

The hugely successful O’Neill has been linked with a number of English clubs over the last three years and has been tipped by many to one day succeed Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.

However, it is Liverpool with whom he is currently being linked as Gerard Houllier’s future looks increasingly uncertain – but the Reds will receive no encouragement whatsoever if they call Quinn tomorrow morning.

“I would say: ‘I regard that as an unfriendly act and if you’re looking for my permission to do it, I don’t give it,’” he told BBC Radio Five Live’s Sportsweek programme.

“We intend to hold onto Martin O’Neill and resist any overtures by any club. We will move everything to retain Martin O’Neill.

“He is the core of the outfit here. He’s got all the players playing for one another and for him too. It’s a unit, it’s a team above all.

“We don’t hold ourselves out to be the most fearsome team anywhere in the world. That, I think, would not be how we see ourselves.

“But I’ll tell you what, we fight for every game, we win every game and we never give up.”

Asked if he expected O’Neill still to be in charge next season, he replied unequivocally: “I do.”

The latest round of speculation came after the former Northern Ireland international guided his side to yet another double with yesterday’s 3-1 Scottish Cup win over Dunfermline.

However, despite Celtic’s domestic dominance, Quinn does not believe that the time has yet arrived when O’Neill will look south of the border once again for a new challenge.

“I’ve become used to it – it’s been happening for more than three years now,” he said when asked about the latest rumours.

“I’ll tell you something that bothers me a bit. A read a piece in a newspaper a couple of weeks ago which said that if Alex Ferguson has one more season of the kind he’s just had, Martin O’Neill can expect a summons to Old Trafford.

“I thought: ‘A summons? A summons to Old Trafford?’ Do they think he’s playing for some tinpot club and Martin will be summoned?

“That’s not the way it works. Martin, I think, is in love with the club and we’re doing not badly, if I may say so. We’ve got used to it and I don’t think we’re too fazed by it.

“I think it was Hugh Gaitskell many years ago in relation to the leadership of the Labour Party who said: ‘We shall, fight, fight and fight again.’ That’s my idea with regard to Martin O’Neill and the club here.

“He’s made great strides here. We’re on top of the world right now in terms of the Scottish football environment.

“We haven’t gone as far as we’d like to go in the Champions League. We very, very narrowly missed going into the second stage this year. We lost a goal to what I would say was a doubtful penalty three or four minutes from the end of the game in Lyon.

“The next thing to do is to go forward. That, I think, is a strong incentive for Martin O’Neill to stay here and go where no Scottish club has been before.”

If O’Neill is to stay, he will start next season without inspirational striker Henrik Larsson, who scored twice in his final competitive game for the club yesterday to take his tally in the last seven years to 242.

Quinn has repeatedly tried to talk the Swede out of leaving, but admits the die is now cast.

“Even immediately after the game when he might have been at his most approachable and most vulnerable, he still said he was going, so we’ve given up hope on that one,” he said.

“His reasons for going are pretty cogent. I had a long chat with him a couple of months ago and he said: ‘I’ve had seven years. Wonderful years. Really enjoyed myself. Time to move. It happens, whether you’re a footballer or a banker or a broadcaster, the time comes when you want to move on and that’s the point I’ve reached now and I want to go and do something different and I’d also like to spend some time in the sun.’

“Now that’s the remark that I don’t understand because he’s been in Glasgow for seven years and I would have thought that’s given him enough sun! But apparently, he wants more.”