Martin O’Neill emphasises the desperate need for new recruits as he looks to breathe fresh life into struggling Celtic … while insisting it’s vital that Daizen Maeda stays

Martin O’Neill will ask Shaun Maloney and his fellow coaches to draft up a list of potential signings as Celtic look to land the players who could turn their season around.

The 73-year-old has sensationally returned as manager for the second time this season after Wilfried Nancy’s disastrous 33-day reign was cut short.

O’Neill, who won seven games out of eight after initially stepping into Brendan Rodgers’ shoes, quickly needs to shake up a squad who are trailing leaders Hearts by six points with 18 games to play.

With Paul Tisdale also no longer at the club having been axed from his post as head of football operations, the Northern Irishman wants Maloney and the rest of the backroom staff to quickly identify the recruits Celtic so badly need.

‘We definitely need to supplement the squad, absolutely no question about that,’ said O’Neill.

‘And I think that Shaun Maloney, for instance, who has been working in the background in certain things, I think he would get to know some players.

‘Eventually, I would like to be sitting here in front of you and saying, listen, all these players are my choice. That’s what I’d really like to do, so I don’t have a great deal of time.

‘When I was at Celtic before, I would be able to run the rule over players that I knew, players that I maybe didn’t know, like Joos Valgaeren, for instance, way back years ago, but you take the chance on somebody who’s an international player.

‘I will rely on Shaun and Mark (Fotheringham) and Stephen (McManus) for their opinion on players, but eventually it’ll be down to me as much as anything else.

‘If they don’t do well, I’ll blame Shaun! And if they do brilliantly, then I shall take all the credit!’

Celtic were widely criticised for a poor summer transfer window, which played a significant part in Rodgers leaving the club.

Asked if he expected this month to be busy in terms of incomings, O’Neill replied: ‘I would be hoping for it but, if the board were to listen to me, then we would have about 56 players, so I will try and narrow it down.

‘I think you’d be aware, of what positions we need to strengthen in, and that’s what we’re going to try and do.

‘It’s a difficult window and, in terms of buying players, that will be difficult, but we do need to supplement the squad.’

O’Neill admitted he is keen to keep Daizen Maeda, who was close to moving to Wolfsburg last summer and has been touted for a potential departure this month.

‘I just came in last night, so there’s little point in me saying: “He’s really happy, he wants to stay here” and then tomorrow he’s gone. I’ll have a word and find out what he’s thinking, even if it’s through his agent. I think there was a bit of disappointment with him, because the move didn’t go through (last summer) but he’s got going again.

‘I’d love him to stay. It’d be actually really important for him to stay, if that’s the case, but I genuinely don’t know.

O’Neill initially took charge after Rodgers resigned following a defeat at Tynecastle in October.

The team ground out five straight league wins on his watch, only to slip back by losing four Premiership matches under the Frenchman.

While Celtic are still in contention to retain their title, O’Neill doesn’t underestimate the scale of the task now facing the players.

Asked if it now looked like a three-way title fight between Hearts, Celtic and Rangers, he said: ‘Well, naturally I do. I don’t know what sort of strength of the squad of, for instance, Motherwell or Hibs.

‘Certainly, I watched the game against Motherwell and they were brilliant against us, really brilliant in the game.

‘Rangers are obviously big enemies and Hearts have had momentum all season. They’ve been able to win some big games, so, yeah, it is a difficult task for us, but we’ve got 18 games still left.’

Ahead of Saturday’s visit of Dundee United, O’Neill feels he has a job on his hands to get his players into the right frame of mind after a tough recent run.

‘Every new manager steps in and says, the training was great today. It was fine,’ he said.

‘It was fine. It was nothing more than fine. But they’re in decent spirits.

‘We had a bit of a meeting here about half past ten today. Honestly, I genuinely feel as if they’re in good heart.

‘So, they’re naturally disappointed with the recent results and the way things have gone. But I’m just hoping they’re up for the battle ahead and I’m sure they will be.’

O’Neill said he had a great deal of sympathy for the way things went for Nancy over a luckless 33 days.

‘Yeah, it was disappointing, but some of the matches they played in, had that second goal had gone in…

‘I know it’s ifs, buts and maybes, and you keep those out of the equation, and eventually the results are what it’s all about.

‘But there were moments in matches there, if they’d been able to score that second goal, you never know that things could have been different. You just need a little bit of luck.’

Nancy’s insistence on standing by a 3-4-3 was partly his undoing, with O’Neill now likely to revert to the 4-3-3 that yielded more positive results.

‘I don’t expect to make too many changes, probably want to maybe go back to what I thought maybe worked for us at the time, if indeed it didn’t work before,’ he said.

‘Again, it’s players. We can get bogged down with the systems and stuff like this here, but players can make things work, so whatever system we do, decide to go, just let’s not have any excuses, let’s go and try and win.’

Having answered the call from Dermot Desmond for the second time this season, O’Neill reiterated that he has no desire to take the side beyond the summer even if things go well.

‘I wonder whether I would have the capacity to go and carry on,’ he said.

‘And also, I’m 112 on my next birthday, so I think time is kind of running out for me!

‘But I’d like to try and do well, and who knows what the board might think.

‘But I would not be, and I’m serious about this, I wouldn’t be thinking any longer than the end of the season for me, regardless of what happens.’