The pressure is starting to ramp up on Martin O’Neill at Celtic, and it isn’t pleasant to see.

Yes, O’Neill is a Celtic legend and that will never change, but he is the man in the dugout right now, and he understands how this works more than anybody else.

Chris Sutton puts the pressure on Martin O’Neill after Celtic lose to Falkirk

Sometimes, the fans deserve a bit more accountability from those in charge, but you don’t get that with O’Neill; instead, it’s pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes.

He did that after Falkirk by reminding people that Celtic are still top of the league, including mentioning the club’s dominance over the last few decades.

But that simply hides from the current truth, and that’s the fact that Celtic are in ‘regression’, which was thankfully called out by Sutton.

The former striker wanted to talk beyond O’Neill, stating that Celtic are top of the Premiership table, and also spoke about how the club have been ‘woeful’ in Europe this term.

“There have been problems all season,” said Sutton. “Martin isn’t going to say it, of course he isn’t, but the club is in regression; the team is in regression; they just aren’t a good functioning team at this moment in time.

“Martin can turn around and say, ‘Celtic are top of the league.’ But let’s talk about Europe – they have been woeful in Europe, and Celtic fans, quite rightfully, expect more.

“Has Martin been given everything, which he would have desired, in terms of player wise in the transfer window? Well, we know that story.

“You have to say. Should the team be performing better on the pitch? There is this big debate: is it about Shaun Maloney and Fozzy and their coaching? Or is it on Martin?

“Well, this is all on Martin, because he employs the coaches. He delegates. Or he will ask them to play in a certain way and to train in a certain way. It’s hard to see how Celtic are actually set up. It is a bit off the cuff. The way Celtic look like scoring a goal is to get the ball out to Hassan and hope he can do something.”

Has O’Neill been hung out to dry?

What O’Neill has walked into is a mess. That was proven last season, and those issues are still at the club right now.

But here is the issue. You won’t see O’Neill doing what Brendan Rodgers did, and that’s calling out the powers that be.

One example of O’Neill being hung out to dry was the summer sale of Arne Engels, and then not properly replacing the energetic midfielder.

Before Celtic lost Engels, there were issues with a lack of energy and athleticism in the middle of the park anyway, and now matters have become worse.

“I think that in an ideal world it would have been greater to have the likes of Arne Engels and that type of running power,” said O’Neill in September after Engels left for West Ham.

Even with O’Neill admitting the team’s problems months ago, what did he do back in August? Lay the blame at the player’s feet, and how he is ‘disappointed’ in the now-West Ham player not wanting to play Celtic’s Champions League qualifiers against LASK.

“I think that Arne wanted to go,” said O’Neill in August. “He didn’t want to play in the matches in case he got injured. I said again last week that that was understandable, that this was a move that he wanted to make.

“But for the football club, disappointing, really, because just at this moment, he’s hard to replace in the side, that sort of running power that he has and that he gives us. So just even for these two games, that’s disappointing. It is what it is, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Yes, O’Neill has been hung out to dry by the board, but rather than acknowledge it, he has previously, somehow, turned the attention on the player being sold rather than those making the calls in the Celtic boardroom.

As O’Neill said when the 2025 summer transfer window is open, ‘It is what it is, and there’s nothing we can do about it’; now Celtic are suffering the consequences of this.

O’Neill could have done something by calling out those above him, but he would rather state at the time, ‘it is what it is’, and now suffer from it because his team can’t function as he would like.