CELTIC have given a major update on their managerial search ahead of their return to action following the international break.
The Scottish champions face St Mirren on Saturday and are still without a permanent boss following Brendan Rodgers‘ bombshell departure.
Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney have overseen first team proceedings for the four games since.
The Hoops are continuing to speak to candidates, with Wilfried Nancy the frontrunner.
SunSport told you first how the 48-year-old Frenchman was the leading candidate as he’s well regarded by Paul Tisdale.
Columbus Crew are expected to give Celtic permission to speak to the manager.
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But the club have tonight confirmed that O’Neill and Maloney will remain in their roles in the meantime and will be in charge for Saturday’s league clash.
A statement read: “As Celtic Football Club continues with the process to appoint our next permanent manager, we can confirm that Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney will continue to manage first-team matters on an interim basis, until this process is complete.
“We will update supporters further as soon as possible.”
O’Neill said: “First things first, I enjoyed the couple of days off. It was a bit of a whirlwind fortnight beforehand.
“But if there’s not an announcement now in the next few days, then I’m happy to still be here for the weekend game against St Mirren.
“They played some really attractive football against Hibs and were really excellent in the game. It was 3-0 which suggests they were well and truly beaten but that was not the case at all.
“They had a goal disallowed after three or four minutes in the game, which was a massive moment
“And then just after half-time they had another goal chalked off which would have been the equalising goal.
“The big moments happened against St Mirren.”
“We now want our players coming back from international matches unscathed, which is the most important thing for us just now that we’ve got a few injuries to contend with.
“So whatever sort of squad we had for the Kilmarnock game, I wouldn’t mind having roughly the same again.
“But we can only deal with what we have and what we want to do.
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“And we just want to play as strongly as we possibly can.
“But let’s see what the next couple of days bring.”
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