Lambert says Celtic should not sack Martin O'Neill

Paul Lambert told BBC Radio Scotland on 21 September 2026 that Celtic could not sack manager Martin O'Neill after back-to-back defeats by Rangers. Martin O'Neill has said he will consider his future.

Celtic sit two points clear at the top of the Premiership despite recent setbacks. The Old Firm defeats came either side of a home loss to Ferencvaros in the Europa League and followed a Champions League collapse to LASK in August in which a 4-0 aggregate lead was surrendered. O'Neill was made permanent manager for a second time in the summer after two stints as interim boss last season that resulted in a league and Scottish Cup double. He also won another seven trophies with Celtic between 2000 and 2005 while Lambert was a player.

Lambert, 57, said O'Neill remains the club's leading figure since Jock Stein and argued the manager should not be dismissed. "It wouldn't surprise me if he left. I don't think he needs it," Lambert said. "I'd be shocked and disappointed if Celtic sacked him."

Lambert suggested the club should offer O'Neill the option to depart if he wanted to, saying: "I think they give him the option, if that's what's on his mind, if he did want to walk away." He added: "He's got enough credit in the bank. It wasn't that long ago people were shouting for a statue for him, so I don't think you can go from one extreme to the other. If he wants to go, then he goes himself."

O'Neill said he would take time to assess recent results and accept criticism of his side. He said he would reflect on the games and acknowledged he was not immune from criticism, adding he needed to consider the bigger picture and whether he could turn the situation around.

Lambert criticised individual performances in the defeats by Rangers and was particularly critical of defender Cameron Carter-Vickers's public comments. "The players need to take responsibility," he told BBC Radio Scotland. "I watched the game and dear oh dear... That was cringeworthy, the stuff from Carter-Vickers. I thought 'hang on, you're not making a movie'. Solve the problem yourselves. When something is not going right, you look to rectify it, you don't look to a manager to say 'do this or do that'. I thought that was bang out of order, coming from someone who's been a decent player for Celtic."

Lambert recalled O'Neill's impact last season as evidence of his ability to steady the club after managerial departures. "O'Neill steadied the Celtic ship twice last term following the departures of Brendan Rodgers and Wilfried Nancy," the article reported Lambert saying, and he added: "They were hanging on by a thread and he turned that around. There was only one person who could rescue Celtic last season and he did that. I'd bet any money that he hasn't changed anything from how he was then."

The 74-year-old O'Neill said he would use the international break to take stock following the back-to-back defeats by Rangers. "I will reflect on the games," he said, adding: "I'm not immune from criticism. Absolutely and utterly far from it. I think there's every reason to ask 'can you turn this round? Can you change the whole thing?' I have to kind of look at the bigger picture at this minute."