‘O'Neill has only a year left on his current deal and has been stalling on signing a new one, amid fears among Celtic fans that he would leave the Scottish champions for Manchester United at the end of the season with Sir Alex Ferguson moving upstairs.
Ferguson has given no indication that this year will be his last, however, and O'Neill feels at liberty to bide his time with Celtic until the situation in Manchester becomes clearer.
"I will make a decision about my future very, very shortly," said O'Neill. "I wanted to concentrate on the Champions League, but now that's gone I will definitely be sitting down very shortly with the board. I'm sure the directors will summon me for a board meeting and I am very happy to do so. I'll be sitting down with them and I'm sure things will go fairly amicably and favourably. But I would say that something will happen in days rather than weeks and certainly weeks rather than months."
The Celtic chairman Brian Quinn is confident O'Neill will sign soon. "We are very hopeful," he said. "We think he likes it here and we think he enjoys the environment. We are determined to keep Martin at Celtic."