Martin O'Neill has added to the growing pressure on new Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy with a radio interview in which he revealed he would have stayed at Parkhead, but hadn't been asked.
Nancy took the reins from caretaker manager O'Neill at the start of December but has endured a terrible start to his time at Celtic, becoming the first manager to lose his opening three games, including a torrid 3-1 defeat to St Mirren in the Premier Sports Cup final.
O'Neill meanwhile enjoyed a triumphant return to Celtic as their caretaker manger, following the exit of Brendan Rodgers. The former Republic of Ireland boss won seven of his eight games in charge, including the Bhoys first away win in Europe in over four years.
With the spotlight increasing on Nancy following his poor start, O'Neill has added fuel to the fire with an interview on TalkSport.
"I'd happily have stayed on," he said. "If they had asked me to stay on, I would've done so, but the minute that they said, 'no, that’s your time’, that’s fine by me.
"I stepped into the job, [major shareholder] Dermot [Desmond] said to me 'you could be in it two weeks or two months, we're looking for someone’.
"When you get into it, you really enjoy it. You enjoy winning, that’s the point - this is what it’s about.
"I've never lost the appetite for the game, I’ve certainly not lost enthusiasm and I’ve got energy to burn."
O'Neill did call for Nancy be given time, but also revealed that there hadn't been any real handover between the two managers as they only met for a very brief period.
"So my last game was on a Wednesday night against Dundee," he said. "I would have been flying back to London anyway on the Thursday but I stayed until later on.
"I met the incoming manager. He was very affable, very nice. It was only a 15-minute conversation. What can you make of anybody in that time?
"He's got his own philosophy, his own viewpoint on the game and that is absolutely fine. I was not going to be coming in and giving him advice.
"You've got to give managers chances. I think back to my own time at Leicester City, where I eventually enjoyed nice success. Can’t win a game to save my life, crowd baying for blood and after 10 games. How lucky I was to win a couple of matches of real importance at a stage."
"You’ve just got to win, you’ve got to win. You’ve got to steady it again. There’s some excellent players at the football club. There’s some boys who have won big time as well. Lean on some of the senior players. Lean on them and get them on your side."
"It is recoverable, of course. You’re in the football club 10 or 12 days."
