A traumatic season for Celtic but Martin O’Neill is the saviour

In partnership with

The Celtic Star

·26 January 2026

A traumatic season for Celtic but Martin O’Neill is the saviour

It has been a traumatic season for Celtic with a total of three managerial changes, failings in the transfer market from the Celtic board leading to significant supporter unrest and protests, a cup final defeat at the hands of St Mirren and a real prospect that the dominant force in Scottish football will not emerge from the campaign as Champions as they invariably do.

Brendan Rodgers arrives at Ibrox. theRangers v Celtic, 31 August 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

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Brendan Rodgers issued a 200% guarantee that he’d see out the season, the third and final one on his three year contract despite the failings of club bosses Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay to get transfer deals over the line regarding incoming players last summer.

In 2025 Rodgers watch on with increasing frustration as Celtic sold Kyogo (£10m to Rennes), Nicolas Kuhn (£17m to Como) and Adam Idah (£7m to Swansea) without securing replacements.

Tomas Cvancara is the new Celtic Number 11. Photo Celtic FC

Indeed earlier this week, exactly one year after Kyogo was sold, Celtic finally did sign his replacement bringing in 25-year-old striker Tomas Cvancara on loan from Borussia Mönchengladbach for the remainder of this season with a £7m option to buy in the summer.

Kuhn’s replacement is still a work in progress while Idah has been replaced by Johnny Kenny, an able third choice back-up striker who has tellingly been pushed into Celtic starting XIs this season more often than should have been the case.

Rodgers counted up the goals that those three players had scored for his side and noted that their absence without reinvestment in the squad would be detrimental to the team this season.

Of course the incoming cash swelled the already bulging Celtic coffers even further, with around £80m sitting in the Celtic PLC bank account.

Celtic 0-0 Kairat Almaty. Celtic’s Champions League hopes hang very much in the balance after they were held to a goalless draw in Glasgow by Kazakh side Kairat. Photo Kenny Ramsay IMAGO / News Licensing

Celtic lost out on a £40m Champions League windfall after falling to score against Kazakhstan Champions Kairat Almaty across two goalless ties win the play-off round in August 2025, with betting sites with PayPal offering 40/1 odds on the Kazakhstan Champions reaching the group stages at Celtic’s expense.

Nicolas Kuhn scores during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Knockout Play-off second leg match between FC Bayern München and Celtic FC at Allianz Arena on February 18, 2025 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

Remember it was less than six months earlier that Celtic were less than a minute away from defeating Bayern Munich in their Allianz Arena in the Champions League knock-out round.

This terrible result highlighted the validity of the Celtic manager’s concerns about goals being taken out of the team, although Idah was available for these matches.

Rodgers picked things up domestically with results if not performances and the team was certainly not free scoring or pleasing on the eye for the Celtic support as the team dug in to get results.

Brendan Rodgers talks to the media after the match. Hearts v Celtic, 26 October 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

The Celtic manager’s concern was expressed at his media conferences and this caused behind the scenes tensions that would soon erupt into an all-out civil war at Parkhead. Rodgers lost two league games on the bounce away to Dundee and Hearts and after meeting the board offering to build bridges and work together to improve the squad in the January transfer window, he was sacked.

Celtic’s principal shareholder Dermot Desmond, with around 34% of shares but effectively 100% control of the club, then took to the club’s official site to launch a blistering attack on Rodgers, who had won 11 of the 13 domestic trophies he’d contested as Celtic manager.

Celtic Chairman Peter Lawwell, Dermot Desmond, largest shareholder and Michael Nicholson CEO are seen during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Falkirk at Celtic Park on October 29, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Martin O’Neill stepped in on an interim basis to steady the ship winning all his domestic matches, closing the 7 points gap on Hearts, beating theRangers for the first time in a year to reach the Premier Sports cup final and while losing to Midtjylland in the Europa League he did manage a vital 3-1 away to Feyenoord.

Shaun Maloney and Martin O’Neill at Celtic Park on October 28, 2025 (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Unbelievably with three vital matches upcoming the Celtic Board chose to replace the experienced and successful O’Neill with French rookie Wilfried Nancy who joined from MLS side Columbus Crew and played a crazy style of football that he implemented from the word go.

Celtic Unveil new manager Wilfried Nancy at Lennoxtown Training Centre on December 05, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Nancy lost his first four games, losing to Hearts at Celtic Park in a match that would have seen Celtic go top with a win. He lost to St Mirren in the Cup Final and he lost heavily to Roma at Celtic Park in the Europa League. He also lost to Dundee United, Motherwell and theRangers before being sacked after just 33 days in charge, losing six from eight matches and dropping a dozen valuable Points in the league.

Once again Celtic reached out to Martin O’Neill and his backroom team of Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham who restored normality to the Celtic formation playing the 4-3-3 system that the club’s success has been build around in recent times.

Under O’Neill Celtic started winning again and a draw in Bologna in the Europa League means that Europa League qualification will be achieved if the team can beat already eliminated Utrecht next Thursday. In the league O’Neill has to make up the gap Hearts have opened for the second time this season, if he is to retain the title.

Martin O’Neill salutes the travelling Celtic support after the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Phase MD7 match between Bologna FC 1909 and Celtic FC at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on January 22, 2026 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

Progress in the Scottish Cup is there too, so under Martin O’Neill order is gradually being restored for the second time in a turbulent season for Celtic. Will the legendary Celtic figure be able to turn the season around and deliver the Scottish premiership title? Don’t bet against him would be the best advice at this stage.