O'Neill pledges future to Celtic

Martin O'Neill has brought to an end speculation about his immediate future at Celtic by signing a new 12-month rolling contract at Parkhead. The deal starts with immediate effect.

O'Neill said: "I am delighted with this agreement. With so much to look forward to this season both domestically and in the Uefa Cup, I am hoping that the winter break has renewed everyone's appetite for the challenges ahead.

"On the wider front, naturally, having experienced Champions' League football last season, this is something we would very much like to be involved in again and this will be high on our agenda for next season."

O'Neill has been the Celtic manager since June 2000, helping the club to successive Scottish titles, including a Scottish Premier League, Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup treble in 2001.

The 50-year-old Northern Irishman, formerly manager of Wycombe Wanderers, Norwich City and Leicester City, is one of the most sought-after managers in the British game. In the summer he was linked with a move back to England with Leeds and he has also been mentioned as a possible successor to both Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and Gérard Houllier at Liverpool.

The club's chief executive, Ian McLeod, said: "The board of Celtic Football Club are extremely pleased that Martin has agreed to this new contract and that the speculation surrounding his future at the club has been brought to such a positive conclusion. We are now looking forward to continuing our recent successes on the field as we maintain our challenge both at home and in Europe with Martin at the helm."

Charlie Nicholas, a former Celtic player, said the club's supporters would be "very surprised" at O'Neill's decision to commit himself to the club.

"I thought the way negotiations were going I didn't think he would sign," he said. "It's only a year but at least they can concentrate on the season now and get points back on Rangers."

The future of the Scottish Premier League appeared more certain yesterday after 10 of its 12 clubs agreed to drop their threat to resign at the end of next season.

The 10 rebels have been embroiled in a bitter nine-month dispute with Celtic and Rangers over the issue of the league's voting structure, future television rights and new media rights.

However, after a meeting of all 12 SPL clubs at Hampden Park in Glasgow, the Rangers chairman, John McLelland, is optimistic the split has been averted. "I'm delighted with the outcome," he said. "I think it's fair to say we've reached broad agreement in principle that will allow the SPL to move forward with the other 10 clubs withdrawing their resignations.

"The agreements covered income distribution, voting rights and new media. There are still some working groups to produce the very fine detail of how things will operate but it has been a good day. Now these disputes are settled we can concentrate on football and on business.

"The prevailing voting structure will now be 8-4, replacing the 11-1 system which was in place before, thanks to a compromise from the Old Firm because we want what is good for Scottish football."

The 10 clubs handed in their resignations at the start of the season after the decision by the two Glasgow giants to use the league's 11-1 voting system to block the launch of an SPL TV channel last April. Stung by the resignations, Celtic and Rangers discussed the possibility of a move to England, but the Football Association said it would not sanction such a switch.

The disagreements continued when the SPL chief executive Roger Mitchell resigned in November, followed by the Hearts chairman Chris Robinson, who left the SPL board citing "irreconcilable differences with fellow board members".

But the SPL chairman Lex Gold, a former Hibernian board member, hopes peace will now transpire. "We will now accelerate the legal work to put the agreement formally in place," he said. "When that is achieved, and agreed, the 10 clubs who notified us of their intention to leave the SPL at the end of next season have confirmed that they will withdraw their letters of resignation."