Simon Jordan Urges Martin O'Neill to Show More Steel After Celtic's Struggles

Simon Jordan has called on Martin O'Neill to show more steel after the Celtic manager publicly questioned his own future in the wake of a grim week for the Scottish champions.

Celtic have fallen off a cliff in seven brutal days. Three defeats in a row, two of them to Rangers, have ripped the early-season optimism to shreds and dragged O’Neill’s position into the spotlight.

It started with a 3-0 humbling at Ibrox in the Scottish League Cup quarter-final. A heavy, bruising loss to their fiercest rivals. Then came Europe, and more damage: a defeat to Hungarian side Ferencvaros in their Europa League opener. Any hopes of a quick reset vanished.

The week ended back at Celtic Park, but there was no comfort there either. Rangers came across the city again and left with a 1-0 Premiership win, snapping Celtic’s perfect league start and tightening the pressure around O’Neill.

Those results have left an uncomfortable statistic hanging over the club. Celtic have now lost four matches in all competitions this season – the same number of defeats they suffered across 35 games in the whole of last term.

O’Neill, 74, signed a one-year deal in June after returning as caretaker in January and steering Celtic to a Premiership and Scottish Cup double. It felt like a romantic reunion; a veteran manager back at a club he knows, delivering trophies and stability.

Now, that security looks fragile.

After the latest loss to Rangers, O’Neill did not come out swinging. Instead, he admitted he would take time to decide whether he remains the right man to lead the side.

"I genuinely will reflect and see," he said. "It's a matter of whether I can help the team. If that's the case – the manager's supposed to be able to do that. I will have a look at that there this week."

Those words jarred with Simon Jordan. The former Crystal Palace chairman expected defiance. He heard doubt.

"I've liked to see him being a bit spikier and a bit more robust, rather than sounding relatively defeated in that clip," Jordan said on talkSPORT.

He wanted a very different message from the Celtic dugout after back-to-back Old Firm defeats.

"I certainly would have been wanting to say back to them, 'This has happened, it will not happen again,'" Jordan insisted.

For Jordan, O’Neill’s introspection cut against the image of a battle-hardened manager.

"The fact that he's talking about whether he can help the team and whether it's his time – I find that slightly strange of Martin, but he's having a reflective moment."

Reflective or not, the questions now swirl around Celtic and their veteran boss. The next response, from the dugout and from the team, will say far more than any post-match soundbite.