Here, 67 Hail Hail have ranked the top six Celtic managers with the most Scottish Cup wins, including the current boss Brendan Rodgers and the club’s first ever manager Willie Maley, among others.
Celtic’s most successful Scottish Cup managers ranked
6 – Billy McNeill (3 Scottish Cup wins)
Billy McNeill is Celtic’s greatest ever captain having led the Hoops to European Cup glory in 1967.
He is also the club’s fifth-most successful manager with eight major domestic trophies won during his first and second spells as boss.
Three of those honours are Scottish Cup triumphs. In 1980, McNeill was manager as Celtic beat Rangers 1-0 in one of the most infamous Scottish Cup finals ever, if not THE most.
George McCluskey scored the winning goal for Celtic in extra-time, which sparked rioting between both sets of Old Firm supporters at Hampden Park.
The trouble and violence resulted in the sale of alcohol inside Scottish football grounds being banned, a prohibition that is still in force today.
During McNeill’s second Celtic stint as boss, he won back-to-back Scottish Cups. The Bhoys beat Dundee United 2-1 in 1988 and overcame Rangers 1-0 the following year.
The 1989 Scottish Cup final saw 72,069 fans inside Hampden. No Scottish football match since has boasted a higher attendance figure.
6 – Martin O’Neill (3 Scottish Cup wins)
Martin O’Neill was the man who brought Rangers’ dominance of Scottish football to a shuddering halt in the early 2000s.
He won a domestic Treble in his first season as Celtic manager and went on to secure seven trophies overall at Parkhead up until his exit in 2005.
Celtic beat Hibs 3-0 in the 2001 Scottish Cup final, with Henrik Larsson scoring a brace after Jackie McNamara opened the scoring.
Like Billy McNeill, Martin O’Neill led the Hoops to back-to-back Scottish Cup triumphs in 2004 and 2005, first overcoming Dunfermline Athletic and then Dundee United.
6 – Brendan Rodgers (3 Scottish Cup wins)
Brendan Rodgers will lead out his Celtic side at Hampden this weekend as they face St Johnstone in the semi-finals of this season’s Scottish Cup.
Victory will set up a final against either Hearts or Aberdeen, giving the Northern Irishman the chance to secure his fourth Scottish Cup winners’ medal.
Rodgers’ first came in 2017 as part of the incredible Invincible Treble season, as Celtic beat the Dons 2-1 thanks to Tom Rogic’s dramatic winner after 92 minutes.
One year later, Celtic won 2-0 against Motherwell to wrap up the Double Treble, the first time a Scottish club had achieved such a feat.
Rodgers left as Celtic boss the following year before making his return four years later. He won the 2024 Scottish Cup final over Rangers with Adam Idah scoring a late clincher.
3 – Neil Lennon (4 Scottish Cup wins)
Like McNeill and Rodgers, Neil Lennon has won the Scottish Cup as Celtic manager across two separate stints – but only he has found success four times.
Lennon won the 2011 edition after Celtic beat Motherwell 3-0. Ki Sung-yeung scored the opener before a Stephen Craigan own goal and a Charlie Mulgrew strike wrapped the victory up.
Lennon’s future club Hibs were the opponents in the 2013 final for Celtic, but the Hoops breezed the occasion again with another 3-0 victory, which featured a Gary Hooper double.
The Irishman was back in the dugout after Rodgers’ departure as boss in 2019, winning the Scottish Cup that year and the following season, both against Hearts.
2 – Jock Stein (8 Scottish Cup wins)
Jock Stein’s incredible haul of eight Scottish Cup wins will likely never be matched or eclipsed given the modern day culture of football management.
Celtic’s greatest ever manager, Stein’s first trophy as Hoops boss was the 1965 Scottish Cup and his last was the 1977 Scottish Cup.
- 1964/65 (beat Dunfermline Athletic 3-2 in the final)
- 1966/67 (beat Aberdeen 2-0 in the final)
- 1968/69 (beat Rangers 4-0 in the final)
- 1970/71 (beat Rangers 2-1 in a replay of the final)
- 1971/72 (beat Hibernian 6-1 in the final)
- 1973/74 (beat Dundee United 3-0 in the final)
- 1974/75 (beat Airdrieonians 3-1 in the final)
- 1976/77 (beat Rangers 1-0 in the final)
1 – Willie Maley (14 Scottish Cup wins)
Not even the great Jock Stein could eclipse what Celtic’s first ever manager Willie Maley achieved during his unbelievable 43-year spell as Hoops manager. Yes, 43 years!
Maley is Celtic’s most successful manager as far as trophy count is concerned, winning 30 major domestic honours.
14 of those were Scottish Cup triumphs, his first coming in 1899 and his final victory in 1937.
- 1898/99 (beat Rangers 2-0 in the final)
- 1899/1900 (beat Queen’s Park 4-3 in the final)
- 1903/04 (beat Rangers 3-2 in the final)
- 1906/07 (beat Hearts 3-0 in the final)
- 1907/08 (beat St Mirren 5-1 in the final)
- 1910/11 (beat Hamilton Academical 2-0 in a replay of the final)
- 1911/12 (beat Clyde 2-0 in the final)
- 1913/14 (beat Hibernian 4-1 in the final)
- 1922/23 (beat Hibernian 1-0 in the final)
- 1924/25 (beat Dundee FC 2-1 in the final)
- 1926/27 (beat East Fife 3-1 in the final)
- 1930/31 (beat Motherwell 4-2 in the final)
- 1932/33 (beat Motherwell 1-0 in the final)
- 1936/37 (beat Aberdeen 2-1 in the final)
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