Martin O’Neill backed to ‘fight to prove people wrong’ amid Celtic uncertainty

The Hoops boss admitted he would use the international break to reflect on his position after losses to Rangers and Ferencvaros piled pressure on him and his players.

Chief executive Michael Nicholson has since publicly backed O’Neill in Celtic’s latest financial statement, and Allan believes that intervention could indicate the 74-year-old intends to remain in charge.

The former Celtic midfielder reckons O’Neill’s natural response will be to stay and attempt to prove his doubters wrong rather than walk away during the international break.

Speaking on Superscoreboard, Allan said: “I think communication has been one of the biggest problems when you look at the Celtic fans and the board and the statements coming out. “For them to come out and do that at that time, Martin’s obviously a club legend, you would imagine – and I’m saying that because you don’t know for certain they’ve had they conversations. “He’s been away for a few days and cleared his head, and probably looked at some of the reaction to the performance. “I think any guy who’s been in football, especially O’Neill for that length of time, the natural reaction is to hang on in there and fight to prove people wrong and for me I don’t expect him to leave before the next league game.”