The amazing Scottish Premiership table over Martin O’Neill’s two Celtic interim spells | OneFootball

Martin O’Neill has done his bit to transform Celtic‘s fortunes in a difficult season, with no team in the Scottish Premiership winning more points during his two interim spells in charge.

O’Neill, who managed Celtic with great success between 2000 and 2005, initially took over after Brendan Rodgers resigned at the end of October.

The 74-year-old won all five of his league matches before the Scottish champions appointed the little-known Wilfried Nancy as the club’s new permanent manager.

But Nancy only lasted eight matches before he was shown the door, the final straw was losing the Old Firm derby to Rangers at the start of January.

Only Kilmarnock and Livingston picked up fewer points in the Scottish Premiership than Nancy’s Celtic. No wonder prominent pundits called his reign ‘absolute gobbledygook‘.

The beleaguered board turned to O’Neill once again and the Northern Irishman picked up where he left off in the autumn, taking 23 points from 10 games since.

Their most recent success was a 3-1 win over Motherwell, earned by a battling performance against in-form opponents.

“It’s a big win, and to come from behind and play in the matter that we did,” O’Neill said. “Naturally, I’m delighted with the performance.

“Where it comes in the scheme of things, I genuinely don’t know. But today, to play against Motherwell, who are a fine, fine footballing team, and fight back with all the things that were mounting up for us, like injuries, the team have found spirit.

“But spirit alone won’t do it for you and they played brilliantly. That’s a delight.”

Hearts are now just two points ahead of Celtic in the table, albeit with a game in hand, with Rangers not far behind either. It’s already been the most exciting Scottish title race in a generation.

We’ve crunched the numbers to see just how many points Celtic have collected under both of O’Neill’s interim spells compared to the rest of the Scottish Premiership.

1. Celtic – 38 points 2. Rangers – 31 points (14 games played) 3. Motherwell – 29 points 4. Hearts – 26 points 5. Falkirk – 25 points (16 games played) 6. Hibernian – 19 points 7. Aberdeen – 16 points 8. Dundee – 12 points (13 games played) 9. Dundee United – 11 points (13 games played) 10. Kilmarnock – 10 points (14 games played) 11. Livingston – 8 points (14 games played, GD: -10) 12. St Mirren – 8 points (GD: -18)