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O'Neill begs for Celtic unity after 'sack the board' chants

Celtic interim manager Martin O'Neill believes off-field strife might be affecting players as he stressed the need for "unification" after Saturday's last-gasp win over St Mirren.

Fans again chanted anti-board sentiments in Paisley, even after Callum McGregor fired the only goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

The game came the day after Celtic chairman Peter Lawwell called an early end to the club's annual general meeting following an angry reaction to a statement by Ross Desmond, son of principal shareholder Dermot Desmond, who branded a section of fans "bullies."

Celtic later attributed "substantial disruption" to what they claimed were about 40 people "organised by the Celtic Trust and the Green Brigade" and claimed a "small minority" had prevented shareholders from asking questions.

Shortly before Saturday's William Hill Premiership game, the Celtic Fans Collective claimed the board held supporters in "open contempt" and was "flagrantly attacking the fanbase to avoid basic accountability."

The group accused Dermot Desmond of sending "pampered heir Ross" to "profoundly insult and intentionally provoke supporters and shareholders with a speech that may come to be viewed as a historical low point of fan relations in the modern history of the club."

O'Neill was asked whether the situation was affecting the players.

"I probably don't think so, but I'm not sure," he said. "When it was a continuation of not really supporting the team and it was just 'sack the board' the whole way through, I think there's perhaps just an element of that.

"I'm not saying it's going to affect [Daizen] Maeda, who probably wouldn't know what a 'sack the board' is. But I don't think it helps.

"Listen, the lads will say, they paid their money, they came here and obviously the scenes at the end were terrific.

"We just need some sort of unification again. I know I made the point about Jock Stein. But he built the football club in unification, fans and players and the team and everybody else going in the same way.

"Some sort of unification would be great in the not too distant future."

When asked if the situation need some form of mediation, potentially from him, the 73-year-old said: "Listen, you have to know your place here. I'm only here at this minute, and what you did or were part of 20-odd years ago, I don't think makes a heap of a difference.

"But I would love to see it, regardless of who comes in or where I go. It would be great. I'd be hopeful at some stage or another that would happen."

Saints have now taken one point from six Premiership matches but again they suffered major misfortune.

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The Buddies hit the post through Conor McMenamin, who was also flagged offside after Liam Scales scored an own goal.

It was a fifth disallowed goal in four home games for Stephen Robinson's team.

"The boys haven't lost confidence," Robinson said. "They feel extremely hard done by. And we're not the only club that feels that, by the way. It's throughout Scottish football.

"But certainly we'll take positives from the performance and then work on the end product to get the results."