Inside Sport newsletter: Get an expert guide to the biggest moments shaping the world of sportGet our free Inside Sport newsletterGet our free Inside Sport newsletterAnd then there were two. In the season and title race that keeps on giving, a story for the ages is developing. No, no, it’s not that one, as historic it would be for Hearts to break the dominance of the Old Firm and win the league for the first time since 1960. That’s because Martin O’Neill returning to Celtic, at the age of 74, and winning a fourth title, 21 years after his last in Scotland, would be a pretty decent tale in itself. Consider where he was a few months ago. When Celtic came calling and O’Neill’s phone rang in late October, the Northern Irishman was sat in the TalkSport studio singing the praises of Hearts, the league leaders, after their excellent start to the season. At that point it was largely assumed O’Neill was retired. The previous month saw the release of his book, The Changing Game, where he appeared rather unimpressed by some of football’s emerging trends – sporting directors and data analytics among them. In an interview with the Guardian, O’Neill called the measurement of expected goals (xG) “total nonsense” and a “clueless development”. Evidently, O’Neill had not attempted to reinvent himself in the six years spent between his last position in management at Nottingham Forest and returning to Celtic following the acrimonious departure of Brendan Rodgers. O’Neill was raised as a player by Brian Clough, and he is objectively an elder man, so any attempts to be anything other than old school would have been futile.But the call O’Neill first received was to steady a club lurching into crisis while the search for a new permanent manager began. He surpassed even his own expectations to win seven of his eight games and reduce Hearts’ eight-point lead down to just goal difference, and appeared to ride off into the distance with a team tracksuit packed into his suitcase. (Getty Images)Perhaps if Celtic had trusted the twinkle in O’Neill’s eye, the impact and respect he immediately fostered from his players, and the sense of purpose he had brought in that initial caretaker spell, they would have avoided the disaster that followed. Wilfried Nancy’s eight-game tenure, with six defeats, brought Celtic back to where they started. O’Neill’s phone lit up once more, and he was back in charge just 33 days after he had left. Scottish…
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2026-05-10 08:05:21
