March with O’Neill – Why Martin’s title rivals fear Celtic’s interim boss

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The Celtic Star

·17 Maret 2026

March with O’Neill – Why Martin’s title rivals fear Celtic’s interim boss

Martin O’Neill has got Celtic back into the title race not once but twice this season…

Celtic manager Martin O’Neil arrives prior to the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Motherwell at Celtic Park on March 14, 2026 . (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

As the three title contenders face their last eight games Derek McInnes at Hearts and Danny Rohl at the Rangers will have good reason to fear the impact that the 74 year old interim Celtic manager has had on one of the most remarkable seasons in Scottish football history.

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If you look at how the Scottish Premiership table would look at the moment if you only consider the games that Martin O’Neill has been in the dugout as Celtic manager then you can see why the veteran Irish coach is a cause for major concern for his title rivals.

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill reacts during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Motherwell at Celtic Park on March 14, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

The table would look quite different if only the round of matches where Martin O’Neill was Celtic manager counted. According to piperspin, Martin O’Neill’s Celtic would be top on 38 points, the Rangers would be second seven points adrift on 31 points, Motherwell would be third on 29 points and current Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts would be fourth on 26 points.

And with Martin O’Neill in charge of the Champions for the title run-in that table is perhaps more significant than it may seem as it shows O’Neill’s momentum and clearly shows that Hearts has benefited from the two spells of atrocious form suffered by the two Glasgow giants earlier in the season.

Under Russell Martin at the start of the campaign the Rangers were a shambles and had they lost at Livingston after a terrible start they could have been rock bottom of the Scottish Premiership.

03.01.2026 Celtic v Rangers, SPFL Premiership. Wilfried Nancy and Kwame Ampadu. Photo : Kenny Ramsay

Then after the Celtic Board manoeuvred Brendan Rodgers out the door, Martin O’Neill came in to steady the ship and did very well before the highly paid suits at Celtic Park reckoned that French coach from MLS side Columbus Crew was the man to take Celtic to the next stage. That was a 33 day hellish experience with Nancy losing seven games from nine, including a Cup Final against St Mirren and dropping a dozen points to give the Hearts fans a brilliant Christmas present.

After losing to the Rangers at the start of January, Nancy was sent packing and Dermot Desmond, Celtic’s controlling shareholder, once again reached out to Martin O’Neill to Save Our Season.

Alfred Dunhill Links Championship 2024 Dermot Desmond on the 18th tee during the final round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship 2024 on the Old Course at St. Andrews Golf CLub, Fife, . 06/10/2024. Picture Fran Caffrey / Golffile.ie

On Saturday Celtic defeated an impressive Motherwell side before Hearts lost at Kilmarnock. On Sunday the Rangers scrapped past St Mirren in Paisley with a 1-0 win. The result mattered more than the performance which was awful.

Celtic are now two points behind Hearts, with the Rangers a point further adrift of the leaders, who have had their lead and possibly their confidence cut dramatically. In the remaining eight matches both Hearts and the Rangers have to travel to Celtic Park, while the Rangers have to play at Tynecastle as well.

The momentum certainly seems to be with Celtic who will have Arne Engels and Alistair Johnston back in the coming weeks to add real quality to the title push.

The other factor worth mention is experience. Martin O’Neill knows how to win titles as Celtic manager from his iconic five year period in charge starting in season 2000-01 when he won a treble.

And the current Celtic squad has plenty of title winners in its ranks including of course the likes of the Celtic captain Callum McGregor, Celtic’s most decorated player of all time James Forrest and Kieran Tierney who enjoyed incredible success at Celtic before making a £25m move to Arsenal five years ago.

Celtic has won the title for 13 of the past 14 seasons, the only exception being the Covid season when supporters weren’t allowed to attempt games.

In contrast James Tavernier, the Rangers captain is the only player in either of Celtic’s two title rivals to have won a title and that was during the Covid season when the pressure from the stands was absent and without that the Rangers won the league in a canter.

So everything points to a Martin O’Neill title triumph, not that he’ll consider this likely himself. The bookies a few days ago had Hearts as evens favourites, with Celtic at 2/1 and the Rangers at 7/4. Tellingly Celtic are now 10/11 favourites, with Rangers out to 11/4 and former market leaders Hearts now available at 2/1.

They are clearly are thinking along similar lines to ourselves.