We’re once again having conversations about Martin O’Neill’s role and tactical suitability at Celtic.

After another flawed performance saw the team drop points on Wednesday, some called for the manager’s head. A supporter phoning into the radio on Thursday drew headlines for his claim that the Hoops boss “couldn’t do anything tactically.”

It goes along the same lines as Frank McAvennie’s claim that O’Neill doesn’t even pick the team. Another sceptical pundit has been Aiden McGeady, who simply said: ‘This isn’t Martin O’Neill’.

Much of this chat implies that O’Neill is simply a ‘figurehead’ who doesn’t yield the typical tactical authority of a manager. But as has been the case throughout his career: he is not a figurehead. He’s a delegator.

Why Maloney’s role is under the microscope

I listened into O’Neill on talkSPORT’s White and Jordan last October, just hours before he received that phone call from Dermot Desmond whilst enjoying an expensive coffee on King’s Road.

He was doing what he and everyone else tends to do on talkSPORT: having a go at players, having a go at managers and just generally complaining about many perceived issues with the modern game.

When he was catapulted into a Parkhead dressing room where he didn’t know any players immediately before a match against Falkirk, of course he leaned on the knowledge of Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham. The former was as in-tune with the team’s tactical blueprint as anyone, having worked at the club during both of Brendan Rodgers’ spells in Glasgow.

James McClean’s depiction of O’Neill in his autobiography should surprise no-one — and this was ten years ago. Today, players are used to a significantly higher level of tactical detail. In possession, out of possession, in transition, on set pieces and everywhere in between, the manager is expected to prepare a comprehensive game plan.

Maloney has over 100 games in management. He himself has said that he only came back to Celtic for family reasons; he would currently be managing at a decent level otherwise. Mark Fotheringham has managed in the Championship and coached in the Bundesliga.

When we get into the question over whether Celtic’s set-up is truly ‘best-in-class’ or even remotely suitable for a club of this stature, this is where the answer becomes nuanced.

Is O’Neill an accomplished Celtic manager? Emphatically, yes. Are Maloney and Fotheringham qualified to be Celtic assistants? Emphatically, yes. Is their collaboration conducive to an optimal Celtic team in 2026?

Take Brendan Rodgers and Ange Postecoglou as your two most relevant points of comparison. Both made Celtic an unstoppable domestic force; the former eventually made an impact in Europe. Both had dogmatically clear brands of football. Both openly discussed their obsessions with the tactical side of the game. Both have won trophies at the elite level of football in this decade.

Rodgers infamously spoke of how he spends the entire day at the training ground before going home, flicking open the laptop and watching more football until he falls asleep.

This wasn’t what O’Neill did in his pomp, and it certainly isn’t what he does now. Instead, the Celtic boss collaborates with and trusts Maloney and Fotheringham, both of whom are much more in tune with modern coaching.

To dispel one myth: assumptions that the team have no tactics because of O’Neill’s lack of tactical knowledge are simply wrong. The team have a plan, no different to any other. You only have to listen to Callum McGregor speak about the details behind how the team want to play to know that this isn’t “off the cuff”.

Clearly, the execution has been poor at times this season — and that’s being kind. In the biggest games of the campaign so far, it has been dreadful. But this isn’t because the team “have no tactics.” It’s because the collaborative efforts of O’Neill, Fotheringham and Maloney are falling short.

This puts us back to the question: are they best-in-class or suitable for Celtic?

On the evidence of this season so far, it’s doubtful. Maloney himself would concede that he isn’t qualified to be Celtic manager — but as much as he denies it in the media, he is bearing a tactical responsibility similar to that expected of one.

He is lucky to have the help of a wise communicator and masterful motivator in O’Neill. This helped the team over the line in the one-off fever dream that was last season — but it has shown signs of faltering this time around.

As last season taught us, you don’t need to be tactically perfect to win the league. But for those of us who still want to use Europe as the team’s primary barometer, things are bleak.

We’re all aware that the club’s problems stretch far beyond the dugout. In the recent past, however, the likes of Rodgers and Postecoglou have been able to mask this by implementing a coherent football model.

Can O’Neill achieve this even as he delegates to his assistants? Of course — but we need some encouraging signs sooner rather than later.