Martin O’Neill: Celtic manager hopes to sign players before Hearts trip on 25 January

O’Neill reflected on “some good and some bad” experiences in the Scottish Cup during his first spell as Celtic manager, as he prepares for his return to the competition away to Auchinleck Talbot on Sunday.

The final game of his 2000-05 tenure was Celtic’s 1-0 victory over Dundee United in the 2005 Scottish Cup final and he said it “would be terrific” to finish his current spell in charge back at Hampden in this season’s final.

That win over United came a week on from missing out on the SPL title as Rangers pipped their city rivals on the final day of the league season.

“I knew that this was going to be my last game so it was lovely to win but I have to say that the Motherwell game was still in my mind by that time,” O’Neill reminisced.

O’Neill was also asked about the game being moved from Talbot’s Beechwood Park to Kilmarnock’s Rugby Park, a regular away destination for Celtic.

“If I wasn’t manager of Celtic, I’d be really disappointed, yes,” said O’Neill, whose side defeated Falkirk 1-0 on Wednesday.

“Now as I am manager of Celtic, I’m probably quite pleased. I’ve seen these before.

“[Celtic] need to play a lot better than we did the other night on the plastic surface, anyway. Yup, perhaps that might help, might level things out a wee bit.

“Looking forward to the game immensely. I’ve watched them now so want to be really careful.

“They have some very, very decent attributes. They are a top-quality junior side, no question about it and they’ve got players who play as well. This is not a junior team like under-11s or something like that that we’re playing. To get here, this distance as well too, it’s been a brilliant effort.”