Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney brought calm after a turbulent few month

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The Celtic Star

·30 de noviembre de 2025

Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney brought calm after a turbulent few month

Celtic travel to Easter Road this lunchtime with major stakes at play, likely marking Martin O’Neill’s last outing as interim manager before the anticipated arrival of Wilfried Nancy next week…

Celtic Interim Assistant Manager Shaun Maloney & Celtic Interim Manager Martin O Neill in the directors box at Fir Park. Motherwell v Hibernian, Scottish Premiership, Football, Fir Park, Motherwell, Scotland, UK – 25 November 2025. Photo Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock

Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney have brought calm after a turbulent few months. Today feels like it could be a massive moment in Celtic’s season. Yesterday afternoon Hearts were held to a goalless draw by Motherwell at Fir Park, dropping more valuable points. That result opens the door for Celtic to close the gap to two points at the top of the Scottish Premiership table.

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The league table has shifted over the past few weeks with the Jambos clearly feeling the pressure and a victory in Edinburgh would bring Celtic within touching distance ahead of the two sides meeting next week at Celtic Park.

Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney celebrate Celtic’s opening goal during the Premier League match between Celtic and Falkirk at Celtic Park on October 29, 2025 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

The context makes the turnaround headed by O’Neill even more remarkable. When Brendan Rodgers departed over a month ago now, Celtic were trailing by eight points and looked in decline both domestically and in Europe.

The Celtic interim manager has restored stability by winning games whilst also putting the Scottish champions back into the equation in the Europa League by delivering an outstanding performance and result on Thursday night in Rotterdam.

Should Celtic overcome David Gray’s men in the capital they will be well-positioned to claim the Premiership lead at Christmas. Such a scenario would have seemed unlikely during October’s struggles.

Shaun Maloney and Martin O’Neill. Celtic v theRangers. Premier Sports Cup, semi final at Hampden. 2 November 2025. Photo AJ (The Celtic Star)

However, Easter Road has always been a tough place to go for Celtic in recent years. The Hibees seem to have a knack of raising their game against the Hoops.

Another performance like Thursday is required. If O’Neill departs having taken Celtic to seven points in the Europa League, a Premier Sports League Cup final and within touching distance of Hearts then it is job complete and his legacy at the club will only have strengthened as a result.

Conor Spence

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