Around 120 supporters attended a Q&A at Greenock Celtic Supporters’ Club, where recruitment, the manager’s future and the club’s longer-term ambitions were among the issues raised.

Speaking on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard, club president Joe Clark revealed that chief executive Michael Nicholson made it clear Celtic are aware of the need for reinforcements. Clark said: “While Martin was there, the question was asked to the board, ‘What are we doing to replace him?’

“They just said Martin is on a one-year contract with an option at the moment. In January there is going to be a budget to spend. The feeling that came out kind of was that everyone was wanting January to come early.

“Michael Nicholson said he wanted January to come quickly. They know they need strengthening. We bought two centre forwards in the summer, and I asked how we came to the conclusion about those two.

"It’s about getting the right people available.”

O’Neill was not initially expected to attend the meeting, with Clark only learning of his involvement after people had already begun arriving. He said: “I got told Martin was coming while I was in the hall, when the first load had already come down.

“Martin has been down at the club recently anyway; it was before he went back to Celtic. He was down doing a Q and A. So it was nice to see him.

“But as you know better than me, when Martin is in the room he usually takes over the room.”

Clark admitted O’Neill’s presence changed the mood and revealed the Celtic boss occasionally stepped in to answer questions that had originally been directed towards the board. He continued: “Yeah, it [having him there] definitely did [change the mood].

"There were times Martin took over the question. The question would maybe be for the board, but he would jump in and take it.

“He did a few circles around when one of our members asked him what the objectives were for the next five years. Winning the league five times, qualifying for the Champions League, winning a game in the Champions League, and qualifying out of the League Phase.

“Martin came back to that a few times as maybe a bit unrealistic. I’m not saying HE said it was unrealistic, but he kept going back and questioning it.

“So he took over a bit.”

Supporters also questioned how Celtic identify transfer targets and arrive at recruitment decisions. Clark added: “On the football side of things, they got asked a lot of things about how they go about identifying players and how they go and make decisions.

“And they’ve got a four-man panel, and people who meet the criteria get fed into that, then Martin makes the final decision on top of that.”