Portugal Colonial - O'Neill to stay at Celtic after period of "reflection"

The 74-year-old said he would take time to consider his position after two defeats to local rivals Rangers either side of a 3-1 loss to Ferencvaros in the Europa League.

Celtic also crashed out of Champions League qualifying in August despite at one point holding a four-goal lead over Austrian side LASK.

"We had a difficult week. It can happen, you can lose to your arch-rivals, you can lose a European game. It’s certainly not the end of the world, as it seemed to be described, but (I’m) ready to go," O'Neill told the club's media channel.

"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 we set out to do and just as determined now as ever before."

Celtic still lead Rangers by two points at the top of the Scottish Premiership after seven games.

But the animosity between the club's fans and board, that has simmered over the past two seasons, erupted again following the two damaging Old Firm derby defeats.

Protesting fans threw tennis balls toward principal shareholder Dermot Desmond while he played in the Alfred Dunhill pro-am golf tournament on Saturday.

The Scottish champions travel to Motherwell on Sunday.

X.Brito--PC