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Celtic secure Premiership title after dramatic final day
Watch Celtic v Hearts highlights on iPlayer
16/05/26
Following a 2-0 defeat to Jim Goodwin’s Dundee United at Tannadice in March, Celtic found themselves five points adrift of Hearts and two behind Rangers.
Martin O’Neill, exhibiting a blend of dejection and defiance, acknowledged the severity of the loss, yet maintained that hope remained.
O’Neill stated that Celtic would need to secure victory in all seven of their remaining matches.
“We disappointed an awful lot of people today,” he commented. “It’s been difficult since I’ve set foot in the place. This is a blow but we’re not finished yet.”
In reality, O’Neill and Celtic were just beginning.
He demanded seven consecutive wins, and leading up to Saturday’s decisive match in Glasgow, they had achieved six. These victories were often tense, occasionally impressive, and frequently hard-fought, but they amounted to 18 points from a possible 18 while chasing the title.
This demonstrated a tenacity that was lacking in the final weeks of Brendan Rodgers’ tenure and conspicuously absent during Wilfried Nancy’s period in charge.
Now, having secured 21 points out of 21, they are once again champions, having overtaken a Hearts side that had performed admirably throughout the season.
After inheriting a chaotic situation, departing, and then returning to an even more disarrayed club, O’Neill has won 19 of his 23 Premiership games, suffering only two defeats.
While not the most dominant champions, they are deserving winners, having triumphed through resilience rather than sheer skill.
They have benefited from several contentious decisions along the way, particularly in recent weeks. However, a league campaign spans an entire season, and their supporters will undoubtedly point to decisions that they felt went against them and favored Hearts over the past ten months.
This is an exhaustive debate, yet it continues nonetheless.
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However, their victory warrants thorough analysis. The Celtic board should conduct a comprehensive review, rather than simply celebrating the title and concluding that all is well at Celtic Park, when clearly that is not the case.
Following the celebrations, serious analysis and brutal honesty are required.
Celtic won the league with 82 points, 10 fewer than last season, 11 fewer than the season before, and 17 fewer than the season before that. By high standards, this downward trend should be viewed as a concern.
They scored 73 goals, a significant reduction from last season’s 112, and the 95, 114, 92, and 92 in the preceding seasons. This is their lowest league goal tally in 19 years.
This starkly reflects their inadequate search for a striker to replace Kyogo Furuhashi, who departed over a year ago. The late-season resurgence of his countryman, Daizen Maeda, was immensely important.
They conceded 41 league goals, their highest total in 33 years. This is partially due to circumstances beyond their control, with Cameron Carter-Vickers and Alistair Johnston only playing 13 league games between them.
Celtic may well secure a double that few anticipated. This is a testament to O’Neill and his ability to navigate the toxicity that has permeated the club throughout the season.
For O’Neill, this is a fairytale scenario: a 20-year gap and another title.
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Celtic celebrate after clinching title on dramatic final day
At the start of the season, with Rodgers seemingly in command, the idea that the septuagenarian would return to Parkhead not once but twice, and guide a troubled club to success, seemed far-fetched.
However, reality can often be stranger than fiction.
Celtic’s season has been tumultuous. O’Neill has delivered a positive conclusion, but much of what preceded it was marked by anger and division. Hostility prevailed until an uneasy truce was reached towards the end of the season.
The issues began with their Champions League exit at the hands of Kairat Almaty. Two games, zero goals, and a transfer window that infuriated supporters. Celtic won only four of their 12 European matches.
The summer arrivals included Kieran Tierney, Isaac English, Ross Doohan, Benjamin Nygren, Callum Osmand, Hayato Inamura, Shin Yamada, Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, Michel-Ange Balikwisha, Marcelo Saracchi, Sebastien Tounekti, and Kelechi Iheanacho.
Only five of these players made double-digit league appearances, while others rarely, if ever, featured.
Rodgers suggested that some of these were “club signings,” implying that they were not his preferred choices. His statements caused friction behind the scenes, which would soon become public.
Rodgers, frustrated with the club’s transfer activity, infamously compared his squad to a Honda Civic rather than the Ferrari he desired. In October, Celtic lost 2-0 to Dundee and 3-1 to Hearts, leading to his resignation.
Upon his departure, he received an unprecedented verbal attack within Scottish football. Dermot Desmond, the major shareholder, released a statement that harshly criticized Rodgers.
Desmond accused the former manager of being “divisive, misleading, and self-serving,” stating that he had “contributed to a toxic atmosphere and fuelled hostility towards members of the executive team and the board. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unwarranted and unacceptable.”
Table when O’Neill first took charge
Amidst the surreal situation involving enraged fans, a vengeful Desmond, and the fallen Rodgers, it was revealed that O’Neill would return as interim manager, two decades after leaving the club and more than six years since his last managerial role.
Earlier that day, O’Neill had predicted that Hearts would win the league. Now, his task was to restore order amidst the chaos. A footballing civil war had erupted, and after Rodgers experienced it, it was now O’Neill’s turn.
He managed five league games, winning all five. Then, Nancy took over, championed by Paul Tisdale, the rarely seen head of football operations.
The decision to appoint Nancy, and Tisdale, was a monumental and unnecessary gamble that backfired immediately, with Celtic losing 2-1 to Hearts and then 2-1 to Dundee United in their subsequent league game. In between these defeats, Nancy lost the League Cup final to St Mirren.
If O’Neill had managed to slightly reduce the animosity during his brief first spell, it now returned with increased intensity and added venom.
Table when O’Neill returned for second stint
Supporters protested against the issues that, in their opinion, were destroying the club: Nancy and Tisdale, poor transfer windows, inadequate communication, disregard for fan opinions, a sense of aimlessness, and a feeling that the hierarchy was out of touch.
Banners and songs condemned the decision-makers. At the AGM in November, Desmond’s son, Ross, criticized the fans, stating that the board would not be “bullied by aggressive and irrational criticism.”
While a small group of supporters disrupted the meeting, leading to its abandonment, he spoke of attempts to “dehumanize and vilify” chairman Peter Lawwell and chief executive Michael Nicholson, deeming it “shameful.”
Desmond Jnr’s comments were like pouring gasoline on a fire. Relationships between the club and board were severed. Lawwell resigned the following month, citing the abuse and threats he had received from malicious individuals.
Nancy was relieved of his duties in the first week of January, after Motherwell embarrassed his side 2-0 at Fir Park, before Rangers defeated Celtic 3-1 at Celtic Park. Tisdale also departed.
The club was left without a permanent manager, chairman, sporting director, or head of football operations, and lacked a properly functioning recruitment department. The team appeared defeated.
In a somewhat comical turn of events, O’Neill was summoned once again, facing a formidable task.
The January transfer window was expected to be significant. O’Neill was questioned about targets in every interview, understanding the reasons for the inquiries but appearing weary when responding.
Celtic struggled to bring in new players, who arrived gradually: Julian Araujo, Tomas Cvancara, Junior Adamu, Benjamin Arthur, Joel Mvuka, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – five loan signings and a free transfer.
Araujo performed well before his injury, and Oxlade-Chamberlain scored winning goals against Livingston and St Mirren, but the others have had minimal impact.
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O’Neill reacts after winning fourth title as Celtic boss
Fan unrest persisted, along with statement wars. The Green Brigade ultras were banned following allegations of assaulting a steward. O’Neill, functioning as both football manager and peace envoy, at times resembled Canute attempting to hold back the tide.
After Celtic’s 2-1 defeat to Hibs in late February, they were in third place. Following their 2-2 draw against Rangers at Ibrox on March 1, they were eight points behind Hearts, albeit with a game in hand.
In the 10 games preceding the loss to United, they won seven, drew two, and lost one. However, O’Neill knew that this points haul would not be sufficient, hence his call for seven wins from their next seven matches. Few believed they could achieve it.
Only one or two of the seven wins were comfortable, with five decided by a single goal, and three secured with late goals. The penalty decision at Fir Park in the penultimate game of the season was a highly contentious call by referee John Beaton.
Depending on perspective, it was either a clear penalty or an egregious error (or worse), leading to entrenched positions on either side.
The aftermath has been indiscriminate and unpleasant, requiring police intervention to ensure Beaton’s safety at his home. Such a dramatic season was unlikely to conclude quietly.
Ultimately, O’Neill triumphed. He navigated the chaos of fans versus board, revitalized a seemingly defeated team, and disrupted the narrative that many desired.
While it was easy to doubt him during the difficult periods, he proved his capabilities in the most stressful final months of the campaign, demonstrating that the “old bhoy” still has what it takes.
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