From chaos to champions: How O’Neill saved Celtic’s season

Celtic are champions of Scotland... again.

It may be the norm in Scottish football, having seen the club claim top spot in 14 of the last 15 seasons. However, this season will be remembered for many years to come.

Despite leading the way for just 34 days this season, they finished where it matters, when it matters.

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Celtic strike late to beat Hearts and win title on dramatic final day

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While Celtic still had the biggest budgets and spending power in the league, a number of factors led to the club almost losing grip of their dominance in the country.

Hearts were in pole position heading into the final day, as they had been for 250 days this season. The Old Firm duopoly, running back to 1985, was set to end.

Step forward club legend Martin O'Neill, twice. The 74-year-old came out of retirement and steered the Hoops over the line, finishing two points ahead of Hearts - that's despite being six adrift when he took over for his second stint of the campaign.

Here's a look at how the Hoops went from chaos to champions in what has been a turbulent season at Celtic Park...

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Celtic's recruitment has been the root cause of the supporter unrest this season. When the Hoops exited the Champions League in the knockout rounds after a heroic performance away to Bayern Munich, former boss Brendan Rodgers spoke about his hopes to build on that progress.

However, in the summer, Celtic sold Nicolas Kuhn and Adam Idah. On top of Kyogo leaving in January 2025, it meant the Hoops had let go of 73 goals-worth of talent from last season, without replacing them. They also let Greg Taylor leave on a free transfer after failing to agree a new deal with the left-back. While they did sign Kieran Tierney, Benjamin Nygren and Sebastian Tounekti (on top of a number of project signings), a shambolic summer Deadline Day - missing out on main striker target Kasper Dolberg - added fuel to the fire of the fans' discontent.

Kelechi Iheanacho came in on a free transfer after the window closed and, while he has been missing from many matches this season due to poor fitness levels, he has been instrumental in Celtic's success this season with four late match-winners out of his five Premiership goals.

January didn't get any better for the Hoops in terms of recruitment. Five loan signings came in, but only Julian Araujo managed to hold down a regular place in the team before his season-ending injury last month. Following the closure of the window, Celtic again looked to the free agent market and snapped up Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. While he has also played very little football since joining, he has scored two match-winning goals for the club against Livingston and St Mirren.

Rodgers went from saying "I'll be here next year, 200 per cent" on April 26, 2025, when they won the league again at Tannadice, to resigning six months later. It came as a huge shock - with Celtic announcing the news at 9.48pm on a Monday night. Between Celtic's Champions League play-off exit to Kairat Almaty in August, to the day he left, Rodgers had been echoing the fans' discontent at the club's lack of major activity in summer transfer window.

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It was becoming the norm in every press conference for Rodgers to make a sly - or, not so sly - dig at those above for the squad he had been left with. After losing 2-0 to Dundee, he said of his situation: "There's no way you'll go into a race and be given the keys to a Honda Civic and say, 'I want you to drive it like a Ferrari'."

Celtic's principal shareholder Dermot Desmond hit back at Rodgers after his resignation - calling him "divisive, misleading and self-serving". Desmond accused the former Liverpool manager of trying to stir up hatred and abuse towards the board. The full statement was an astonishing character assassination of one of Celtic's most successful managers… on the club's official website. Rodgers is yet to publicly respond to that attack from his old boss and hasn't faced the British media since moving to Saudi Arabia.

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Celtic appointed Columbus Crew boss Wilfried Nancy as their new manager in December 2025, after O'Neill came in and steadied the ship. The now 74-year-old took the Hoops within touching distance of top-of-the-table Hearts, despite being eight points behind. Celtic saw similarities between Nancy and Ange Postecoglou, having both won titles abroad and known for their attacking football. The Frenchman was recommended by the club's then-head of football operations, Paul Tisdale.

The Nancy experiment lasted just 33 days, after the Frenchman lost six of his eight games in charge - including the League Cup final against St Mirren and a home derby against Rangers. Nancy immediately changed the system when he came in and Celtic's players struggled to adapt. They lost four games in a row - the first time since 1978.

Back-to-win wins over Aberdeen and Livingston bought Nancy some time and it appeared he would be allowed the January transfer to make the additions he wanted for his system. But losses to Motherwell and Rangers around New Year sealed his fate as the shortest-serving manager in the club's history. Tisdale was also relieved of his duties. O'Neill was brought back in straight away.