McKenna in Celtic frame as O'Neill keeps seat warm

Martin O’Neill is adamant that his return to Celtic will be short term as the Ipswich manager, Kieran McKenna, emerged as a leading candidate to replace Brendan Rodgers.

- Ewan Murray

In a shock move on Monday, Rodgers resigned from Celtic with his team eight points adrift of Hearts in the Scottish Premiership. Equally surprising was the return of O’Neill, whose previous, hugely successful, spell in charge ended in 2005. The 73-year-old said he had to “pull myself off the floor” when taking a call from the club’s main shareholder, Dermot Desmond at 5pm on Monday. Rodgers was later castigated by Desmond in a statement posted on Celtic’s website.

“This is definitely interim,” O’Neill said. “There could be a new manager in two weeks’ time. That's it, absolutely. Celtic will be looking for a young manager to come in with a very decent CV. There is nervous excitement. I obviously want to do as well as I can. I’m looking forward to it, I think. This is a role where they’re looking for a permanent manager. At this minute, I've been called in to do the job.”