Roy Keane has credited Martin O’Neill for restoring stability at Celtic after the club secured the Premiership title following a dramatic final-day showdown with Hearts…
The champions finished the campaign by reeling off seven consecutive league victories to hold off Hearts and complete a remarkable turnaround in the closing weeks of the season.
Assessing the title race on Stick to Football, former Manchester United captain Keane highlighted O’Neill’s calming influence amid a difficult period on and off the pitch for Celtic.
“Truthfully, Hearts were excellent… but top-level sport is brutal. If you’re trying to win stuff, you’ve got to win,” Keane said.
“Credit to Celtic. Hearts were brilliant, but Celtic hung in there. The ups and downs, the change of managers, Martin going in… he showed why he’s a top manager.
“Martin would’ve managed the club. There was a lot going on off the field with the fans and the board, but he got everyone on side. That’s his strength, bringing people together.
“The top players found a way to win. It wasn’t pretty, but winning the last seven games, you’ve got to give them credit.”
Former Celtic forward Ian Wright also underlined the impact O’Neill made after returning to the dugout, insisting the 74 year-old proved decisive in the title run-in.
“If Martin doesn’t go in there, they don’t win that league,” Wright said.
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1 Comment
Totally agree, as Nancy found out to his cost.
Getting a decent run of stability, with winning results, was the first aim, when coming into such a toxic environment within our club at the time.
After the massive setbacks with the Nancy appointment, there really was only one man in MoN to revive our season again.
Even at that, it wasn’t going to be straightforward, especially with such an horrendous injury list in place.
Boosting squad numbers was required, even if many weren’t to be successful. But the one’s who were, especially Julian, played there part at times also, with some vital contributions.
Mentality seemed to become the main focus for MoN, especially as our team was still struggling to function properly in a manner that we had become so use to seeing. And that Mentality gained many extra points, along with a cup victory, that could well have finished our season, long before it should have?
Even for MoN, it took time for himself to finally settle upon a more stable 20man SPFL match day squad. Plenty given opportunities but failed to take them, especially within our club, where the waiting game for players to show there worth isn’t really on offer, with such high demands within our club.
Not every decision MoN took worked out well, but at least gaining results stayed intact, which was crucial when playing catch up football.
Couldn’t revive Hatate and especially Paulo, both of whom I expected to have been influential within our season, which says more about themselves than MoN imo?
But installing a winning Mentality was the crucial factor, MoN installing into our club, within his position. Players eventually stepping up to the demands, despite numerous others who couldn’t or wouldn’t?
Very hard work at times, especially without having a fully functioning 90 minutes team in operation, but didn’t lack character within all the same imo?
So no shortage of obstacles for MoN to overcome, but was assisted hugely with the imput Maloney and fozzy where able to provide, with that extra desire needed?
Couldn’t have wrote such a script for the season we had to endure, especially when we didn’t foresee the like happening.
But like any great fairytale, there’s usually a very happy ending, and MoN certainly provided that for ourselves imo?