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Is O’Neill the long-term answer for Celtic?Image source, ReutersImage caption, O’Neill won his fourth title with Celtic, 21 years after the thirdByGeorge O’NeillBBC Sport ScotlandPublished47 minutes agoWatch Celtic v Hearts highlights on iPlayer16/05/26Watch on iPlayer
In October last year, Martin O’Neill was enjoying retirement.
The then 73-year-old was a regular pundit on radio shows, but had not had a managerial job since leaving Nottingham Forest in 2019.
Then, just a few hours after tipping Hearts to win the Scottish Premiership, he received a phone call in which he was given 10 minutes to decide whether he wanted to make a stunning return to Celtic following Brendan Rodgers’ departure.
With the fanbase revolting over a perceived lack of summer spending and dismal Champions League play-off defeat by Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty, Dermot Desmond turned to the one man he felt could weather the storm.
O’Neill returned, two decades after his first successful spell, donned a fetching club tracksuit, and got to work like he had never been away.
Two spells for the veteran Northern Irishman – either side of Wilfried Nancy’s awful 33-day reign – have culminated in Celtic’s 14th league title in the past 15 years.
It has further enhanced O’Neill’s legendary status at the club and he still has a Scottish Cup final to come next Saturday against Dunfermline Athletic.
But how has he done it and what is next for the man in the three stripes?
A 4-0 victory in O’Neill’s first match in interim charge against Falkirk set the tone for a triumphant five-and-a-half-week first spell.
Five straight league wins. An eight-point gap to Hearts – gone. Rivals Rangers dispatched in the League Cup semi-finals.
O’Neill paved the way for Nancy in his inimitable style and rode off into the sunset with a wave and a smile. Or so we all thought.
The veteran Northern Irishman was back just over a month later, Nancy having been binned after 33 days and six losses in eight games.
And O’Neill picked up where he left off, churning out wins.
He has taken an average of 2.57 points per game this season – by far the best of any manager in Scotland’s top flight. It makes you wonder what would have happened had Celtic left him in charge in December.
Twice this season he has had to pick up a dressing room lacking confidence amid fan unrest. Twice he has done so.
Along with coaches Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham, he has stripped things back to basics. It is not the exhilarating football that delivered titles under Rodgers and Ange Postecoglou, but it has been mightily effective.
McGregor kept the faith to lead Celtic to title
It is difficult to quantify vibes, but the mood around Celtic has been far happier with O’Neill in charge this term.
He carries an aura and a presence because of his achievements in the game, no more so than at Parkhead, and the players appear to have fed off that.
With five games to play, captain Callum McGregor summed it up.
“I don’t think anyone can underestimate how good a job he’s done,” he stated. “He’s pulled the club back together when it was fractured, he’s overseen a run of results.
“Performances have been getting better all the time and that’s from a disjointed start point. It’s never been perfect, but the job is to win games and he’s shown that in spades – he’s getting a tune out of the players.
“If we do go on and be successful, and hopefully we can win the Scottish Cup as well, then what an amazing season and it states his credentials for the job moving forward. The players are fully behind him.”
After Celtic got over the line on Saturday, defender Alistair Johnston heaped praise on his manager.
“He is a winner,” the Canada defender stated. “Build him a statue, it’s as simple as that. He just finds a way to win.”
Perhaps only Jock Stein is held in higher esteem than O’Neill by Celtic fans. Younger supporters have now seen a fourth league triumph, to go with the stories of O’Neill’s previous three.
And there will be games within it that go down in folklore, so many of them sealed with late goals.
Wednesday’s controversial late win at Motherwell, after which O’Neill made a point of going to the away end and revving them up before Saturday’s decider against Hearts, which somehow contributed even more drama to an extraordinary tale.
When O’Neill left after his first spell this season, he stated he was taking the tracksuit he had worn on the touchline. A memento of an unexpected chapter. He returned, as did the work clothes, and now he has a trophy to go with it.
The club legend has made no secret of how surreal and how meaningful his unexpected return has been.
On top of that, he has represented a unifying figure amid fan unrest aimed at the boardroom. The atmosphere at Parkhead on the final day was almost unthinkable not long ago.
But is there more to come from O’Neill? He was asked directly about his future after the win over Hearts, but refused to commit.
“I genuinely don’t know,” he stated. “Has anybody talked to me? No, but I wasn’t expecting that. There will be time for conversations after the cup final.
“I’m pretty old so it does take it out of you.”
His record this season shows his still has the Midas touch, but whether he has the appetite to go again is another matter.
“I think he’s done what he can,” former Celtic goalkeeper Pat Bonner stated. “I don’t think he needs to go again. The club needs to go in another direction.
“At 74, Martin O’Neill has hit the pinnacle. He’ll go down in history.”
If he does decide to walk away, his successor has mightily big shoes to fill.
O’Neill reacts after winning fourth title as Celtic boss
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