Celtic are in a rare three-way title race in the Scottish Premiership.
In a chaotic season which has already seen four different managerial spells, the league table is poised for a battle between Martin O’Neill’s men, Hearts and Rangers.
In four league encounters with their title rivals, Celtic are yet to win a single one, leaving them six points off the top after 21 games.
After the instability of the team under Brendan Rodgers and the re-stability of O’Neill’s interim spell, the disastrous downturn in results under Wilfried Nancy was the Hoops’ biggest blow yet.
But with O’Neill now back in the door and Nancy’s reign erased, Robbie Savage can only see it going one way.
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Robbie Savage on Celtic winning the title under Martin O’Neill
Savage rarely talks about Scottish football without the company of Chris Sutton.
When he does, he’s usually at the wind-up, acting as a Rangers fan. But things are different on this occasion.
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His personal relationship with O’Neill has left him in no doubt that the Hoops will be lifting their 56th league title in May.
He told Stroud Times: “I’ve learned so much from Martin (O’Neill) and the way my management style is, like Martin’s, he was a brilliant man manager.
“He had a team around him which did most of the coaching. Steve Walford and sadly, Robbo (John Robertson) who is no longer with us. Amazing guy, amazing.
“With me, he’d be sadly missed and I’m sure, you know, Martin would go back into Celtic. I think they’ll win the league now with Martin. That’s the difference he will make again.
“For him to be doing what he’s doing is brilliant. I spoke to him before I got the job here and he was going to come and have a coffee and sit down with me and help me.
“So that’s why I’m very lucky to have managers around me who I can pick up the phone to.
“I text Sean Dyche after the game against West Ham and he texts me straight back saying well done and he helps me when we have conversations about pressure.
“I speak to David Moyes – so again I’m very lucky to have managers who I can call upon you know when I’m going to be struggling and how they reacted.”
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Martin O’Neill’s first interim Celtic spell
In a whirlwind 24 hours, O’Neill went from being a guest on talkSPORT to leading Celtic to a 4-0 win over Falkirk.
He followed that up with an extra-time win over Rangers, in which his bold calls to start Johnny Kenny and introduce Callum Osmand from the cold were backed up.
A last-minute winner from Callum McGregor at St Mirren was one of the sweetest moments of the season.
But the best was probably that night in Rotterdam, in which O’Neill led the Celts to their first win in the Netherlands since he led his original Hoops team to victory in Amsterdam, 24 years ago.
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