Celtic are currently in the middle of a huge shake up in their coaching staff following the club’s decision to hire Martin O’Neill for the second time this season

Former Aberdeen and Celtic winger Jonny Hayes has been promoted to the role of manager of the Hoops B team following Martin O’Neill’s return to the dugout with the senior team.

The Scottish champions recently sacked manager Wilfried Nancy after his sixth loss in just eight matches, making his 33-day reign the shortest in the club's history. The 48-year-old signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the Scottish champions after the conclusion of the Major League Soccer season with Columbus Crew, and arrived with a steady reputation after success in the USA and Canada. However, he never looked fully comfortable in the dugout at Parkhead and oversaw a dramatic slump in results and performance levels in stark contrast to the mini-revival during O’Neill’s interim stint which saw the team win seven of their eight games under the popular 73-year-old manager.

The former Aston Villa and Sunderland boss was able to generate a real feel good factor from both the crowd and the players during his interim stint in charge. “Martin won’t tell you this, but I’m going to say it. In my mind, he was really up for the challenge of going and winning titles and cups for this club again. The more it was going on, the more enthusiastic he was getting. He could easily have carried on for the rest of the season. In fact, he could have done it way beyond it,” said coach Mark Fotheringham to the Scottish Sun shortly after Nancy’s appointment.

Few expected things to go quite as badly as they did for Nancy in Glasgow, but his premature departure made O’Neill the obvious candidate to come back to steady the ship , with the former European Cup winner now overseeing te January transfer window and remaining in the dugout until the conclusion of the season.

Hayes takes on big Celtic role as part of backroom shakeup

Four-time Republic of Ireland international Hayes, who was a big fan favourite at Aberdeen between 2012 and 2017, and 2020 and 2024 has been promoted to manager of their B team on an interim basis as Stephen McManus joins O’Neill’s senior backroom staff, as reported by The Celtic Way.

Hayes played for Celtic between his two stints at Aberdeen from 2017 to 2020 and played under both Brendan Rodgers during his first stint in charge and Neil Lennon during his second spell at Parkhead. He scored 68 times for Celtic scoring twice and contributing seven assists. He never quite hit the heights of his spells with Aberdeen but did form part of the squad which won three league titles, two Scottish Cup and the League Cup on two occasions.

The 38-year-old retired from football in June 2024 to assume a coaching role at Celtic and has worked alongside McManus ever since to harness the potential of the team’s brightest young talents.