Martin O'Neill will know it is "big" to keep Mark Fotheringham and Shaun Maloney in the Celtic set-up when he is named permanent boss, according to former Parkhead striker Tony Watt. Watt revealed he has heard "through the grapevine" that coach Fotheringham is popular behind the scenes at Lennoxtown.
During both of his interim spells last term, Maloney stepped away from his post as Celtic Professional Player Pathway Manager to act as O'Neill's No. 2. He has been heavily linked with taking on a new sporting director role at the Hoops. Having coached in Germany and England, Fotheringham was also added to the set-up by the veteran Irishman.
It remains to be seen if he will return with O'Neill after the veteran gaffer agreed a one-year contract to become permanent boss following talks with Dermot Desmond after the Premiership and Scottish Cup double last term.
Watt told Clyde 1 Superscoreboard: "I think the fact that he’s doing the year speaks a lot about his drive and motivation. I think he’s probably the right candidate at the moment; I think having Maloney and Mark Fotheringham is big. Maloney’s probably a Celtic legend, or if not, a big figure in the recent past. Fotheringham, by all accounts — you hear a lot through the grapevine in football — is a very, very good coach, the boys love him. I think, regardless, he should’ve been kept on as a coach somewhere along the line, I think Maloney would’ve been up in the boardroom, sporting director level. So I think Martin O’Neill’s the right choice at the moment, I think the stability’s a good thing at the moment after what happened with Nancy. I keep going back to it. But now, what I would like to see is Martin O’Neill getting free reign on the signings. Go and sign players who will make Celtic better."
O'Neill ally Paul Dickov claims that he would not have accepted a Celtic return without a bumper transfer kitty. The former Leicester, Blackburn and Manchester City star told Record Sport via Gamble Mind: "I'm delighted that he's gotten the job. Going through these two spells last year, he showed what an influence he's got. Not just in the team, but on the whole club, the fans and the people within Celtic Park. For me, Celtic getting pushed by Hearts all the way to the very end showed you that Celtic have got a lot of work to do. Martin will know that, and knowing Martin as I do, there’s no way whatsoever he would have accepted the job going forward without knowing he was going to get the backing to bring in his own players. He knew how difficult it was last year; the squad needs strengthening drastically. There’s a lot of quality in there as well, I don't think without that backing and certain promises that Martin would have taken the job."
