Celtic boss O’Neill ‘much better’ after hospital procedure

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill revealed on Thursday he is feeling “much better” after being forced to miss last weekend’s win at Kilmarnock following a hospital procedure.

O’Neill was away from the Celtic squad for several days as a result of the “small” procedure.

The 74-year-old spent a night in hospital and was unable to attend the Scottish champions’ 5-1 victory over Kilmarnock on Sunday, although he did deliver a pre-match team-talk at the players’ hotel.

Asked how he was feeling, the former Republic of Ireland manager told Celtic’s website, “Much better than last week anyway. Yeah, a couple of ailments rolled into one, unfortunately, but I’m getting there, which is good news.”

O’Neill led Celtic to the Scottish title and the Scottish Cup last season in his second of two spells as interim boss during a turbulent campaign for the Glasgow club.

Aiming for a 15th title in the last 16 seasons, Celtic have been criticised by their fans for a lack of spending on new signings.

But O’Neill has a third recruit since the end of last season following the arrival on Wednesday of Egypt winger Haissem Hassan from Spanish side Real Oviedo.

“We’d been tracking him in January time. We have been chasing him, several players, in that sort of position that we feel as if they will add something to us. And he very, very much fitted the bill,” O’Neill said.

“When he gets to see the surrounds here, I just think he’ll glow. Going past players now is a sort of a dying art, which is really almost unforgivable in football. That’s what fans get excited about.”

AFP