'Very honoured to be asked back' - Martin O'Neill returns to Celtic as Wilfried Nancy sacked

The Hoops lost at home to rivals Rangers on Sunday. 

GUESS WHO'S BACK?: Martin O'Neill is back in charge of Celtic after Wilfried Nancy was sacked.

Martin O'Neil is back in charge of Celtic after the club sacked Wilfried Nancy following a run of eight games - and six defeats - in charge.

Head of football operations Paul Tidsdale has also left his position in the wake of Saturday's 3-1 home defeat by Rangers.

The club announced they had "decided to terminate the contract of manager Wilfried Nancy with immediate effect".

A statement added: "The club thanks Wilfried for his efforts and wishes him and his family well for the future.

"Wilfried's assistants, Kwame Ampadu, Jules Gueguen, and Maxime Chalier, will also be leaving the club and they take with them our good wishes.

"The club can also confirm that Paul Tisdale has left his position as head of football operations. We thank Paul for the contribution he has made in that role."

And then later on Monday evening, the Glasgow giants confirmed that O'Neill has returned and will take charge of the side until the end of the season.

“I am really pleased, in fact, very honoured to be asked back to manage the team again and I am looking forward to getting back to work again with the players," said O'Neill, will be supported by Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham as assistants.

“I know we would all have hoped for things to have worked out differently under Wilfried and I personally want to wish him good luck with everything he does in the game. He is a fine man and I am sure he will go on and achieve success again, I have no doubt of that.

“For me, I've been asked to take this great job on again and my focus will be to try and get us back to winning ways if we can. We will need everyone right behind us.

“We still have a lot to look forward to and a lot to try and achieve, and myself, Shaun and the coaching staff and, of course, the players will be giving everything to achieve all the success we can for the club.” Brian Wilson, Celtic’s Interim Chairman, said: "The way things worked out for Wilfried Nancy is an intense disappointment, not least from a purely human perspective. We wish him and his family well.

"By bringing Martin back to the club, we look forward with confidence, giving the team real focus for the challenges ahead. He is a manager the players, staff and supporters know well, with a peerless reputation in football and a deep commitment to Celtic.

"The immediate priority is to get back to winning ways and while today's events do not address every issue, I would appeal for unity within the stadium to create the best possible environment for the manager and team to launch the fight-back."

Celtic Chief Executive Michael Nicholson added: “We are very pleased to welcome Martin back to Celtic as manager until the end of the season and we will give him and the rest of our management team every support as we address the challenges we face during the second half of the season.

"Having spoken to Martin, I know he is excited again to be with us and very committed to doing everything he can, along with Shaun and the other coaches, to deliver the success we all know he can bring.

“Wilfried is someone who we will always respect, and while it is unfortunate that things did not work out, we certainly offer him our best wishes and hope that he can once again achieve success in his future roles.”

Celtic’s principal shareholder, Dermot Desmond also said: “I am pleased to welcome Martin back to Celtic. We know exactly what he will bring and we hope that he can do what he has done for us before, giving us that drive and direction as we move into the next part of the season.

"We all know about his proven track record with the club and hope he can bring us similar success going forward.

“When we appointed Wilfried to the role of manager, clearly we thought we could enjoy a successful period under his control. Unfortunately this did not work out in the way we would have liked, and while he and the club are disappointed with the recent period, I want to take this opportunity to wish him well in all he does going forward.”