Certain Celtic men more than merit this title - but don't let it be wallpaper
After turmoil on and off pitch earlier in season, O’Neill and Co are real heroes
Even in the most trying of Premiership campaigns, Celtic found a way. For all the excitement and attention on this captivating title race, the ending was the same as it’s been for 13 of the preceding 14 campaigns.
Celtic are champions. Again. Five in a row. Halfway there to the ultimate holy grail of ten consecutive league crowns. But how they have laboured to this trophy.
By this time next week, Celtic could be celebrating a double. Second-tier Dunfermline and former Celtic captain and manager Neil Lennon stand in their way. So many wrote off this season but if they do prevail against the Pars, it’s the same as the 2024/25 term: two domestic trophies in the bag.
Celtic clawed away the title from Hearts’ fingers in the most dramatic of circumstances. There were ten minutes of football left in this captivating campaign when red-hot forward Daizen Maeda prodded the ball past Gorgie keeper Alexander Schwolow to put the hosts 2-1 up. Callum Osmand’s goal in stoppage time sealed the deal. Hearts had been top for 250 days but when it really mattered, Celtic sat at the summit.
What happened after Osmand’s goal must be condemned - and the club did eventually did so. The Celtic fans who raced on to the pitch to celebrate, taunt and accost Hearts players displayed thuggish behaviour that simply must be punished. Footballers should not be made to feel unsafe at their place of work. It was a deeply ugly and unsavoury end to a wonderful season. It was not the way Scottish football should be portrayed with the whole world looking in.
The fall-out will last days, even weeks. Those Celtic fans - the vast majority - who stayed in their seats on Saturday booed the interlopers. Nevertheless, this was another poor look for a fanbase that has helped but also hindered the club this season.
Celtic Park has been in unison since the league split and there can be no doubt that the supporters’ backing has helped drive the team over the line. Captain Callum McGregor and manager Martin O’Neill were fulsome in their praise of the fans. That is down to the work of those two, plus interim chairman Brian Wilson. It hasn’t always been this way.
It was no so long ago that the prominent fan group The Green Brigade was banned, and supporters were screeching for the board to be sacked. Members such as the now departed Peter Lawwell, chief executive Michael Nicholson and finance director Chris McKay were in crosshairs on placards. Majority shareholder and powerbroker Dermot Desmond has been deeply unpopular. As a result, there have been protests. The annual general meeting last year was abandoned after unrest from the floor.
All of this seeped into the dressing room. How could it not? It almost derailed their title charge.
The terribe Nancy era at Celtic
As did the near cataclysmic appointment of maverick Frenchman Wilfried Nancy as head coach. His 33-day tenure cost them the Premier Sports Cup. Under his watch, Celtic lost to Hearts and Rangers at home. The decision to bring Nancy in mid-season was mad. The board’s transfer dealings have been pitiful. Michel-Ange Balikwisha cost in the region of £5 million. Not even in the matchday squad at the weekend. The same can be said of January recruits such as Joel Mvuka and Junior Adamu. The lack of a veritable No 9 all season that can last 90 minutes has been damaging.
Missteps everywhere, from board room to the stands. Celtic may be perceived as villains in this title race, for the pitch invasion, for some controversial VAR calls, for denying Hearts the fairytale ending, but in O’Neill, there is a true hero.
The 74-year-old steadied the ship on not one but two occasions. Celtic were in a decent place in early December when his first caretaker stint came to an end. Rocked by Brendan Rodgers’ resignation, they were level on points with Hearts. O’Neill returned a month later with a far greater task on his hands and was able to get the squad going again.
It is not all down to him. The coaching staff, in particular Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham, have been the main tactical brains behind the operation. O’Neill has been the motivator, the one that has kept the Lennoxtown training base sunny on even the gloomiest of days.
Injuries have cast a cloud over Celtic too. Boy have they missed centre-half Cameron Carter-Vickers and winger Jota. Right-back Alistair Johnston has been out for most of the campaign. Every team has fitness issues but they’ve not been kind to Celtic.
So when Celtic lost 2-0 to Dundee United at Tannadice in mid-March with the most limp, ham-fisted performance, it was no surprise that many wrote them off. Five points behind Hearts with seven games left, O’Neill admitted his team had to win all of them.
They did.
O’Neill rallied his troops and they have responded. Winning all five of your post-split games in the top six is a fine achievement and without it, they would be second fiddle to Hearts. Late goals are a hallmark of champions. Celtic have scored their fair share right across this season.
Celtic simply cannot stand still now. We don’t yet know who will be the manager next season and the likes of talisman Maeda and other assets are more likely to leave than not. Behind the scenes, there is an interim chairman and voids in the sporting structure. This title win is not wallpaper over the cracks. A lot of renovation work is required at Parkhead - and fast.
The aura of O’Neill and the bloody-mindedness of Celtic’s senior players, led by McGregor, got them this title. There is an argument that some of their disruptive fanbase and some of their error-strewn senior decision-makers might not deserve this moment, but the dressing-room does. That’s why it will taste so sweet for the manager, the captain and their troops. Ultimately, they got the job done.
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