Martin O’Neill returns to Celtic as interim manager alongside Shaun Maloney

How's that feeling? What were your thoughts on the game?

I'm feeling, obviously, delighted to win. A feeling of relief from that viewpoint as well. But I thought we played really well, got the goal, had a goal disallowed, but really, really well.

Then Rangers had the man sent off, and just after half-time I thought they took control of the game. You know, it's a really good spell, 10 or 15 minutes, we lost our way a little bit. Then they get the penalty to get into extra time.

Obviously, Callum comes up with a great goal. So, delighted to have won, and certainly things we could have improved on.

I'm not sure what it was, but, you know, 11 v 10, we should have taken more control, I felt. But, delighted to have won. That spell in first half, particularly, I thought we were excellent.

On a personal note, it's been quite a week for you, what was it like being back out there in this fixture as well?

Extraordinary, I know I have a bit of a joke, but I think it's really, I'm never sure that I've ever enjoyed management. And that would be the same today, your heart's pumping away, trying to get a result. But, honestly, I am privileged to come back, even if it's for a couple of games.

And, yeah, it was a really, really strange feeling to be back at Hampden. Really strange, I must admit.

You've witnessed some inspirational captains in your time, can you sum up the contribution of Callum McGregor today?

He's just a great player. I've been saying this here for a couple of days, and obviously his performance, when I had the team on Wednesday evening.

I've watched Celtic intermittently over the years, and you think, yeah, he's a really good player. It's only when you get down and you're actually in the job itself, you realise how really good he is.

He's a good captain as well too, you know. Vociferous in the dressing room, which is great. But he can play, can really play. I thought he was brilliant and my expectation of him is so high.

If you look at * Advocaat, Carlo Ancelotti, even Bobby Robson - they all managed late into their 70s. Would you at least be open to the conversation, if it was made to you, about the manager's job?

Well I don't think there'll be that conversation. I genuinely don't think that would be the case. I've come in, deep down I probably have enjoyed it a bit better than I'm saying, but not a lot.

I've had enormous help from my backroom staff, young Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham and big Stephen McManus. All three that I managed at one stage or another.

Gosh almighty, now they're standing beside me in the coaching ranks. So yeah, it was lovely. It's a great feeling in the dressing room, you know, when you've won a game like that.

The final is in December, is there any chance you could still be the manager at that point? Have you given any indication?

I have had no indication, genuinely no indication whatsoever at this minute. None at all. And I would have thought that with Midtjylland now on Thursday night and then Kilmarnock on the Sunday, I would have thought there's probably time for them, with an international break, for the board to think about something.

Would you like to lead them out again at Hampden?

Well, secretly you would love to, but it's December time, we're in the results business and all of these things can change. I was actually at the game, Midtjylland's game against Nottingham Forest, where they were just too strong for them really, and that was at the City ground. And then we've got the Kilmarnock game on the Sunday.

These games, it's all about results. It is, honestly. And that will determine whether the board might think about taking their time. If we'd been beaten today, I might not even have seen Thursday.

What about your strikers today?

Johnny scored the goal. Yeah, he's a young kid coming into the game.

The other lad's an interesting character. He's got plenty of confidence. When he learns to play centre forward properly, it'll be great. He does a bit of flicking here and there, but he's sharp and he wants to go. And he got the goal, and he certainly celebrated.

If the game had gone to penalties and Rangers had won, I would have... He missed a great chance before that, didn't he? So, he might not have seen tomorrow himself.

It was great to see Callum Osmand score his first senior goal?

Yeah, yeah. Delighted. Didn't he milk it as well?

Would you be happy to sit down with Dermot Desmond to talk about the job?

The answer, the very obvious answer would be yes, I would do. But I genuinely don't know what to expect. Coming up, when I saw the games that they had and then the international break coming up, I thought, well, they'll have a couple of weeks to think about it.

I haven't even spoken to him since that. So, I don't know. In a perverse sort of way, I have kind of enjoyed the two games, but not a lot.

Martin, in terms of that conversation, if it were to happen, given that you experienced what you did there, being back in the dugout, has that made you more hungry to come back in if that is a conversation?

Could I defer that answer until Tuesday, and we'll come back on Tuesday or Wednesday. Alright, okay.

Don't get me wrong, I'm delighted to have won the game. Absolutely delighted to have won it. It's a really strange feeling to be in the dressing room there at Hampden Park.

Really, really strange, I must admit. But, honestly, it's just nice to win. If it had been the other way around, it would have been a real sickener.

Auston Trusty hasn't played a lot of football this season. He's played, obviously, the two games since you've come in. Are you pleased with his contribution so far?

I thought that he and Scales, in the two games, have been fantastic. I thought Scales was incredible. Trusty has done brilliantly for us.

Brilliantly, in the two games. So, I don't know what's happened in the past, it was just something that I thought would put him in. The young kid [Dane Murray] who had a difficult time at Hearts, they tell me he's going to be a player.

So, that's nice to hear. But, we'll see. The two lads together have been terrific, really, in the two games.

Martin, it would be unusual for a club, if they get to the final, to have a different manager for the quarter-final, the semi-final and the final. I don't think I've ever come across that before.

That is true, and it can happen. Yeah, it can happen, I must admit. Yeah, I hadn't thought about that. So, that would be definitely a first. Historically speaking, I bet it's never happened before.

You've played your part in a lot of it?

A very small part.

I think the backroom staff were great for me. Really, really great. So, I'm kind of taking the credit for their effort.

There's a perception that the two Glasgow clubs are vulnerable this season, in a way that they haven't been before. Did today show signs of life?

Signs of life, absolutely. Yeah, just signs of life. That's it.

Hearts have done brilliantly this season.

I thought myself, and please, I don't want to sound patronising when you've won the game, but Rangers, I'd been watching from a distance and I thought, well, they're not that fantastic at the end of the day. And I thought they showed a lot of resilience, and they're bringing on players who are wanting to take people on.

And I'm wondering where they came from, because seriously, I didn't know. So, I thought they did really, really well. Particularly, obviously, having spent a lot of the game down to 10 men.

 

Aye seen a few on the Celtic facebook page calling it a daft decision when it was announced



Seen one * post a picture of a dinosaur with Martin’s face on it