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.”