Celtic boss Martin O'Neill has declared he is "extremely prepared" to lead the club forward after taking time to consider his future. The 74-year-old had admitted he would weigh up his next steps following a third defeat in a week, which included losses to Rangers and Ferencvaros.
Three defeats in a week
The champions suffered their third loss in seven days when they were beaten by Rangers in the Premiership. That followed a Premier Sports Cup defeat to their rivals and a home Europa League loss to Ferencvaros in their opening group game.
Celtic chief executive Michael Nicholson offered his support to O'Neill, but the decision over the manager's future appeared to rest with the veteran boss himself.
"I am extremely prepared now"
Speaking to Celtic Player, O'Neill was asked if he was "ready" to lead the team forward. He replied: "I am. I am extremely prepared now for it.
"Yes, we had a difficult week - that can happen. You can lose to your arch rivals, you can lose a European game - it's certainly not the end of the world, or what it seemed to be described as. But, now we are ready to go."
He added: "Yes, I did think I would take a little bit of time, and it didn't take me that much time to think about it. I want to lead the club. I want to try and win the league, which is what I set out to do, and I am just as determined now as ever before. It was a time of reflection for a moment or two, some things you think about, but I am back and raring to go and the team is ready."
Self-analysis and squad belief
Asked what he assessed during the break in fixtures, O'Neill said: "What you try and do is analyse the things you have done, or that you haven't done. I have throughout my managerial time, I have done exactly that. Maybe a bit different as a player, because I used to blame every other player for my performance, but as a manager you have got to [look at yourself]."
He continued: "If you feel like something has dropped away you have got to analyse it. Now, there wasn't a great deal in some of the games - if we get the equaliser in the Rangers just after half-time it's a totally different ball game, but it wasn't to be. You have to reflect on a few things like that. I did all that, did a bit of self-analysing, and just prepare for the battle."
O'Neill believes the squad has the quality to steady the ship when the season resumes against Motherwell on Sunday, pointing to last term's title battle with Hearts: "I think that you only have to look at what happened last season - we are capable of coming from behind to win. They [the players] will have seen some of these things before. I'm not saying an overreaction to what happened in the week, but it's something they will have seen before in the past and overcome it."
He added: "Maybe other times we have allowed it to drift. The only thing I can say that there determination within the team is there."
