‘Entire life is ripped apart’ - What it takes to be an Old Firm manager as Gordon Strachan explains why Martin O’Neill ticks special box at 74 years of age

Success is not longed for at Celtic and Rangers, it is demanded. Expectation levels never wane, with each passing season bringing with it the challenge of securing major silverware. Inability to deliver tangible results will forever be considered a failure.

Operating under the brightest of spotlights is not for everybody, with many having found that glare to be too blinding for their liking. Wilfried Nancy and Russell Martin have taken in short spells at Celtic and Rangers respectively during the 2025-26 campaign - with chinks in their coaching armour being exposed.

Nancy lasted just 33 days in what is supposed to be ‘Paradise’, having headed to Scotland from MLS, while Martin managed only 17 games with the Gers before being unceremoniously ushered through the exits.

The managerial baton at Celtic has been picked up on a couple of occasions by O’Neill, with Brenden Rodgers initially being replaced at the helm in October. The Northern Irishman previously took in 282 games in charge of the Hoops between 2000 and 2005.

Some 20 years on, at an age where most people would expect to be enjoying the stress-free perks of retirement, O’Neill is back in the dugout and chasing down what would be a fourth Scottish Premiership title triumph for him.

Quizzed on whether it takes a special kind of person to manage Celtic, with tactical nous not enough on its own, ex-Hoops boss Strachan - speaking in association with Covers.com soccer betting - told GOAL: “Oh it absolutely does! I do believe that if you can manage Celtic or Rangers, then you can manage anywhere in the world, because your entire life is ripped apart by people talking about your psyche, what you’re like as a person, what you’re thinking and what you mean by comments. You’re constantly tested as a manager when you’re at either of those two clubs and you have to be incredibly tough in order to get by there.”

Strachan, who succeeded O’Neill at Celtic in 2005, has previously told BBC Sport of working at Parkhead: “It's great, don't get me wrong. I do believe if you can manage Rangers or Celtic you can go on to become Prime Minister of Great Britain. I think it's that hard.

“You only get to enjoy it for about 24 hours at Celtic, because there's always another crisis just around the corner. So you have to be aware of that. You would imagine you get a lot of time to enjoy it, but you don't at Celtic. But what it is, is one of the best clubs in the world to manage and you have to deal with the rest of the stuff.”

O’Neill has learned over the years how to handle those demands - having also spent time in charge of Leicester, Aston Villa, Sunderland, the Republic of Ireland and Nottingham Forest. He told Sky Sports of having to prove himself again as a pensioner: “The first time that I went back it happened so quickly, Brendan had resigned, I get a call the same afternoon to ask if I would come up and hold the fort.

“Naturally I was worried about it. The reason I was worried about coming back the first time round was that if you don't win, you're just considered old, you're just too old.

“It wasn't about whether you were going to ruin anything you did a load of years ago but at the end of it all, it was just that you would be considered just too old and you're not in the new game.

“And then [for the second spell] I get a call, asking to come in now to the end of the season. My worry then was, yes, it's a wee bit longer this time, we've ground to catch up again and I suppose I had the same fears and worries about it, whether we can do it, because games start to run down.”

Celtic, who are into the Scottish Cup semi-finals following an eventful quarter-final showdown with arch-rivals Rangers, sit second in the Premiership table at present - five points adrift of leaders Hearts.