NOW the dust has settled and the tears of Rangers, Hearts and everyone with an anti-Celtic agenda have stopped – actually they are still flowing so I take that back – I want to take a look back at key moments in the campaign which I think paved the way to Martin O'Neill lifting the Scottish Premiership title once again.
In all honesty, as I write this I'm still grinning like a Cheshire cat. The dramatic ending at Parkhead on Saturday afternoon was one of the best feelings of all time and this season I thought I'd seen it all in the flesh with wins in Rotterdam, Stuttgart and of course Ibrox in the Scottish Cup.
But there are moments for me when it is not just about wins, losses or goals, but the permutations that follow some of the events which made for an unbelievable campaign. To quote commentator Ian Crocker: "In a season of stories, it ended with a familiar one – Celtic as Champions."
O'Neill's return; immediate results
October 27, 2025, was the day that Brendan Rodgers tendered his resignation as Celtic boss following a crisis meeting with majority shareholder Dermot Desmond after Celtic's 3-1 defeat at Tynecastle.
The scathing and unprofessional statement that followed from the Irish billionaire proved there was serious unrest inside the club and, worryingly, Celtic fell eight points behind league leaders Hearts. That very same morning Martin O'Neill gave his prediction on TalkSport, claiming that he believed that Hearts would have no better chance at lifting a Scottish title than this season. Eight hours later he was announced as the Hoops interim manager.
The worry once the Derry man returned to the hot seat was whether he had lost his touch. O'Neill famously had not managed a club side since a short stint at Nottingham Forest in 2019, but the worries were not only about his ability to manage a big club after so long away, but returning to a club where he was gambling with his golden legacy.
O'Neill's return and the immediate battering of Falkirk at Parkhead was truly something special as they romped to a 4-0 victory and the formerly echoey stadium rang with deafening chants of the new manager's name.
The Nancy experiment; restoring the mentality
Fast forward six weeks to Wednesday December 3, and Daizen Maeda's strike on the stroke of half-time proved enough to claim the narrowest of home wins against Dundee and O'Neill confirmed his final farewell as Celtic boss after the end of an impressive domestic run during his short tenure. Or so we thought...
Celtic's appointment of MSL coach Wilfried Nancy proved to be too left field and after a 33-day run of drastically awful proportions the Frenchman and his team were back across the Atlantic. The memories are almost too painful to recount. An opening game showdown offered the prize of replacing Hearts at the top of the league, but instead Celtic caved in and a meme was born as Nancy explained his vision mid-game on a magnetic draughts board to a visibly uncomfortable Callum McGregor. Bad results can be overcome – ridicule can't, and the writing was on wall.
Further damaging defeats followed, to Dundee United, Motherwell and a cup final loss to St Mirren. Then came the New Year Glasgow derby and when Hyun-Jun Yang's Goal of the Season contender gave Celtic a home lead against their fiercest rivals, a lively and dominant first 45 minutes suggested that Nancy's so-far invisible vision might finally be coming into view.
But there followed a second-half of abysmal ineptitude, and while I have never actively wanted Celtic to lose a game, when Mikey Moore put the ball past Kasper Schmeichel for a third Rangers goal I was more relieved than upset – relieved at what another collapse inevitably meant.
By that Monday evening it was a case of 'Break in Case of Emergency' for Celtic and inside the red glass box was the avuncular face of one Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill. Suddenly Celtic started to look like a team again.
The gradual improvement was perhaps best highlighted when Celtic found themselves 2-0 down at half-time at Ibrox in March, the Rangers fans goading O'Neill and his players as they made for the tunnel. It seemed at that time that the season was over. But I was proved wrong, and not for the first time.
Kieran Tierney and Reo Hatate hit second-half goals to secure a point from nowhere, and with Celtic returning to Ibrox to clinch a dramatic cup shootout win a week later, O'Neill had the shell-shocked Celtic fans starting to believe. It wasn't just about the players – with a Celtic squad this depleted and this fragile it couldn't be – it was about restoring the legendary Celtic belief and spirit; it was about reminding players what it meant to pull on the jersey.
Fast-forward two months and Celtic met with Rangers once again. Despite conceding inside the first nine minutes and looking certain to concede more, St Martin summoned his evangelical abilities and somehow the Hoops turned it around, with Yang equalising before the half and an inspired Daizen Maeda scoring a second-half brace – including THAT overhead kick.
Return of the Green Brigade; Maeda hits a golden seam of form
Hours after the post-split fixtures were announced came the news that Celtic had ended the suspension of the Ultras group the Green Brigade. The magic was back at Celtic Park and every game after that felt like a European night.
Meanwhile, the almost certainly outward-bound Daizen Maeda decided he wanted to go out on the highest of highs and maybe even put himself in the running for the 'Best Since Larsson' accolade.
The Japanese enigma struck seven goals in five in a record tally since the split was first introduced in 2001. Throw in five straight post-split wins and the O'Neill Effect was there for all to see.
The cohesion, camaraderie and collective spirit in the final month of the season was truly a sight to behold. Magic, in fact, if I I can be so bold, and it just so happened that it was 40 years on from the 'Spirit of 86'. That felt somehow fateful in the run-up to Saturday's victory.
Late winners; reflection in defeat
There is a fairytale about this club. That sentiment has rung truer than ever this season when Martin O'Neill's men managed to gather an incredible 19 points from goals after the 80th minute.
Come with me back to Rugby Park in February. 2-0 down at half-time to Kilmarnock and everyone had written off this Celtic side. Half-time substitutes came on and before long Benjamin Nygren had struck and Sebastien Tounekti levelled by the hour mark. Seconds from the final whistle, that would have been enough for other teams. But as on-loan Julian Áraujo smashed a shot into the roof of the net in front of the away fans, the pandemonium that ensued was the strongest signal to date that the impossible might just be possible.
St Mirren away, Dundee away, Rangers home, Motherwell away, and of course Hearts at home in the final game of the season. The never-say-die mentality drilled into the squad by Martin O'Neill is something that provided the platform for the Premiership trophy to return to Paradise.
Now the unlikeliest of doubles is possible after a season of challenge, trauma, despair, hope and joy.
But regardless of the result on Saturday, here's a message to the board from every Celtic fan: Build the statue.
