Celtic’s results under Wilfried Nancy compared to what Martin O’Neill achieved in his first interim spell have been nothing but shambolic.
Nancy watched his Celtic side lose to St Mirren in the Premier Sports Cup final as well as presiding over defeats to Dundee United, Hearts and Rangers.
In contrast to that, O’Neill led the same group of players and led Celtic to wins over St Mirren, Rangers and in the Europa League to Feyenoord.
Celtic’s win vs Feyenoord named performance of the week by UEFA
The win in Europe was probably the highlight of all of O’Neill’s victories but it was what happened in the St Mirren game prior to that, that inspired the historic European performance.
Martin O’Neill ‘went through’ Celtic players after late St Mirren
Charlie Mulgrew was sharing his thoughts on O’Neill’s return when he shared a story he had heard about how the Hoops boss reacted to Celtic’s late win at St Mirren.
And the former Celtic defender believes that reaction inspired the famous night in Rotterdam.
Mulgrew told The Go Radio Football Show, “I love hearing the details and what he does and try to find out how a manager works his man management and all that stuff.
“But I’d heard that at the St. Mirren game, they score in the last minute, Callum McGregor, everybody’s delighted and they go and play against Feyenoord during the week.
“And I remember thinking they’ve not got a chance against Feyenoord. They don’t have the squad, they don’t have the players. But I’d heard they got the result and I thought, that was a surprise.
“But then I’d heard that he’d gone through the team after the St. Mirren game. He’d gone through them.
“And the players must have been taken aback because they think we’ve not been great, we’ve scored a last minute winner and think it’s going to be party time.
“But that keeps you on your toes as a player.”
Martin O’Neill’s Celtic return could save the season
Fans are delighted that O’Neill has returned to Celtic because they at least now know that the team will be properly organised.
There will be no more kamikaze defending or shambolic attacking and Celtic will at least resemble a team that knows how to play with each other.
With Dundee United up next, it will be interesting to see if O’Neill’s first Celtic training session will rub off on the players.
What do think of the first Celtic training session under Martin O’Neill? Let us know in the comments.
Shaun Maloney loving the intensity of the Celtic players!
Because from what we witnessed in that video, the Celtic players’ confidence looks already boosted with the return of O’Neill and his coaching team.
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