Pained Martin O’Neill reportedly believes Celtic are weaker than last season with the boss “despairing” over mistakes made during the transfer window.

And it’s also been claimed the 74-year-old got “bad vibes” following the protracted talks to secure returns for trusted lieutenants Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham during pre-season.

The explosive claims, made by O’Neill’s trusted ally Graham Spiers, come as the 74-year-old considers his future after consecutive defeats to Rangers and a chastening Europa League loss to Ferencvaros sandwiched in the middle.

O’Neill was the hero on two occasions last season as he cleaned up the mess following Brendan Rodgers and Wilfried Nancy’s departures to secure an unlikely double. But those heroics now appear a distant memory.

The Irishman publicly admitted before the second clash with Rangers that the club had botched their attempts to find a suitable replacement for Arne Engels after he was sold to West Ham before the Champions League playoff heartache against LASK.

O’Neill cut a pained figure following Derek McInnes’ side doing the double and cutting the champions’ lead to two points atop the Scottish Premiership.

In truth, O’Neill’s woes can be traced back to that sobering night in Linz, when the Austrians provided others with the template on how to dismantle a side bereft of pace and power.

Speirs, writing for his Press Box Patreon account, stated: “As August wore on, O’Neill was defending Celtic in public, saying great efforts were being made at recruitment. Privately, he was despairing.

“The Celtic board appeared to reach a view that, by the time August was out, their business of bringing new, quality players to the club had been satisfactorily concluded.

“It is inconceivable that O’Neill agreed, because he appears to believe his squad is currently weaker compared to the one that secured last season’s league and cup double.”

O’Neill’s ire also stems from the lengthy and public attempts to tie down Maloney, Fotheringham and the rest of the backroom team.

Deals were eventually secured but Speirs claims it left a sour taste in the manager’s mouth.

He added: “Other aspects inside the club have left the Celtic manager frustrated. From the moment Celtic began to wrangle about the salaries of the management/coaching staff for this 2026/27 season, O’Neill felt a bad vibe about things. It set an uncomfortable tone around Celtic as the new season approached.”