{"id":435698,"date":"2026-05-06T20:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T20:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/435698\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T20:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T20:28:10","slug":"celtic-could-win-double-but-is-change-inevitable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/435698\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtic could win double &#8211; but is change inevitable?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Over his two spells in charge this season, 74-year-old O&#8217;Neill has averaged more Premiership points per game than any of his peers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He has been more successful than Celtic could have hoped for when they brought him out of retirement after Brendan Rodgers&#8217; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/articles\/cpq1n04grdlo\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">acrimonious departure<\/a>, and again following Wilfried Nancy&#8217;s ill-fated eight-game spell.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">There is at least an arguable case that had he been in charge since Rodgers left, Celtic would be strong favourites to win the league by now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">On that basis, has O&#8217;Neill done enough to return as manager next season? Is his future contingent on winning the Premiership? Should Celtic look to the future? Does O&#8217;Neill want to keep managing in such a harsh environment at 74?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Right now these are unanswered questions, at least outside the walls of Celtic Park.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I feel a sense of renaissance, coming back and working with young people, it&#8217;s really, really terrific,&#8221; O&#8217;Neill told talkSPORT on Tuesday when asked about the future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;We&#8217;ll have to see see how we stand at the end of the season, and that&#8217;s nearly upon us now. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">While grateful to O&#8217;Neill, who was already a legendary figure, some Celtic supporters feel a fresh face in the dugout is needed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Paul John Dykes, from A Celtic State of Mind podcast, believes O&#8217;Neill &#8220;should go and chill out and just enjoy retirement&#8221; at the end of the season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Martin O&#8217;Neill has been dreadfully let down by the Celtic board,&#8221; Dykes told the BBC&#8217;s Scottish Football Podcast. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;There&#8217;s no way he came to Celtic in January, one week into a January transfer window, on the promise of four loanees and an out-of-contract player to win the double. No chance. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;So regardless of what happens, Martin O&#8217;Neill&#8217;s legacy is intact.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over his two spells in charge this season, 74-year-old O&#8217;Neill has averaged more Premiership points per game than&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-435698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}