Decision to stay at Celtic did not take long - O'Neill

Martin O'Neill has suggested he was never close to leaving Celtic after a three-game losing streak, stressing his "great enthusiasm" for the role.

The 74-year-old signed a one-year deal to stay on as manager after two interim spells last season culminated in a league and Scottish Cup double.

Following two defeats by Rangers last month - either side of a 3-1 home defeat by Ferencvaros in the Europa League - O'Neill felt "it might be time to wrap it up".

However, he said the decision to carry on "didn't take that long" as he prepared for Sunday's Premiership visit to Motherwell.

"Obviously, I'm disappointed with the week that we had," he explained. "As long as the football club wanted me, I was happy to do it."

Three weeks have passed since a 1-0 home loss to Rangers, Celtic's first dropped points in the league.

"Leaving at this particular stage would have been poor," added O'Neill. "Deep down, obviously through the disappointment of losing the games and maybe with the international break coming up at the time, maybe it gave me a little bit of time to reflect.

"Had there been no international break, I probably wouldn't even have said what I said."

O'Neill spoke of his success last season, explaining "it gives you that spur to want to go and do it", as he looked forward to nine games over a 28-day period before the next international break.

"This is what you want to be involved in," he said. "Whether you're good enough to play European football might be another thing. But at least you want to be involved in it. So we go with it.

"I have belief in the team and I think that our focus should be to try to win the league."

O'Neill won seven trophies in his first period at Celtic between 2000-05 and said his love of the sport remains undiminished, even as it brings stresses and strains.

"I have great enthusiasm," he added. "I always have had a great enthusiasm for the game of football.

"I enjoyed last season in a strange sort of way, even though I sometimes say that I don't enjoy management - but I'm past the joking stage. You naturally get concerned for the games. I'm always worried about football matches."