Celtic Park saluted the 73-year-old club legend, who rolled back the years in these last six weeks \u2013 and set a superb tone for the new man in charge.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill raised the roof with the mic at the end as he addressed Parkhead one last time.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThese players have been fantastic. It\u2019s been a privilege to work with them. I\u2019ve had the time of my life these last six weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe supporters? They just need reminding they are the best in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill might have been relieved by the end mind you.<\/p>\n
Daizen Maeda\u2019s brave first half header damaged Dundee early on but the visitors hung tough to make it a slightly edgy final night for the Northern Irishman.<\/p>\n
The Hoops saw it out though and the punters hailed their hero for getting the club back on track.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill made it seven wins out of eight and a perfect six out of six in domestic clashes to leave Celts joint top of the Premiership summit, with the League Cup Final on the horizon and Europa League progress still a possibility.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been far from a breeze though \u2013 and it was hard going towards the end last night.<\/p>\n
Celts were good value for the win and should have been more comfortable after the early opener.<\/p>\n
It was a stunning goal from Reo Hatate\u2019s sensational raking ball, Yang\u2019s blocked effort and Maeda\u2019s desire to stick his head in where it hurts.<\/p>\n
The frontman soldiered on despite needing a bandage and sporting a black eye, and there was another casualty when Marcelo Saracchi limped off.<\/p>\n
Maeda, Hatate and Luke McCowan all came close to a killer second before Ashley Hay gave the home crowd a fright when he got in behind on the break and forced Kasper Schmeichel to stick out a big toe to block.<\/p>\n
It all got a bit nervy at the end but nothing was going to ruin the big farewell.<\/p>\n
There was barely a dry eye in the house. It’s my five talking points.<\/p>\n
PARTING SUCH SWEET SORROW<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill said going in he wouldn\u2019t get emotional \u2013 but he might have been the only one.<\/p>\n
The Northern Irishman was already a Celtic legend and that wouldn\u2019t have changed no matter what happened over the last five weeks.<\/p>\n
But the way it did turn out only underlined his hero status among supporters. O\u201dNeil was saluted by fans throughout and got some send off at the end. It was fully deserved as well.<\/p>\n
The 73-year-old stabilised the club and has given the new man a perfect platform to kick on.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s some man for one man \u2013 and will go down as one of the all-time Celtic greats.<\/p>\n
BIG WIL HUNTING<\/p>\n
It\u2019s out with the old and in with the new with Nancy finally confirmed. The incoming gaffer wisely pointed to the job done by O\u2019Neill and his staff but now the question is how will he see it?<\/p>\n
Celtic have structural problems that the interim team managed to overcome. Yet they haven\u2019t gone away.<\/p>\n
Nancy has to decide whether he continues with this system that has done the side a turn in recent weeks or he tries to immediately implement his own ideas.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s well known the Frenchman likes to play 3-4-3, but it might be difficult given what he\u2019ll have at his disposal.<\/p>\n
There won\u2019t be much bedding in time for the boss so he may decide if it ain\u2019t broke, there\u2019s no need to fix it.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s going to be an intriguing first week on the job.<\/p>\n
EARLY DAIZ<\/p>\n
Nancy will have a lengthy to-do list but sorting out Maeda\u2019s future should be top of the list.<\/p>\n
The new gaffer has already done his homework and knows just how important the attacker is to this side.<\/p>\n
And if he can persuade Maeda to stick around beyond January then he\u2019ll be off to a flier.<\/p>\n
Maeda was at his unbelievable best here, brave as a lion and busting a gut all night.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_JS389695045.jpg\")
Dundee’s Jon McCracken holds onto the ball as he is fouled by Celtic’s Daizen Maeda <\/p>\n
He made the breakthrough by putting his head in where some wouldn\u2019t leave a boot and it left him with a nasty cut and huge shiner.<\/p>\n
Yet he still got back out on the pitch to do a job up front \u2013 and helping out in defence.<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old thought he\u2019d be gone in the summer and has been tipped to leave in the New Year.<\/p>\n
But it would be huge for Nancy if he stuck around.<\/p>\n
PAIN GAME<\/p>\n
The new manager might not want to look inside the treatment room straight away \u2013 as it\u2019s overflowing.<\/p>\n
Marcelo Saracchi limped off with what looked like yet another Hoops hamstring problem.<\/p>\n
The Uruguayan full back has looked the part at times and he\u2019s taken some of the heat off Kieran Tierney as he rebuilds his fitness.<\/p>\n
But losing Saracchi going into such a busy spell is a major blow. Jota, Alistair Johnston, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Callum Osman are all on the long term absent list and could struggle to be seen this season.<\/p>\n
Nancy might need to mend and make do until January and then hope the cavalry is coming.<\/p>\n
DUN GOOD<\/p>\n
Steven Pressley\u2019s men were aiming to do the double over Celtic for the first time since 1988.<\/p>\n
But it was always going to be a big ask against a Hoops side with much more about them than back at Dens a few months ago.<\/p>\n
Going down early was a nightmare start but the Dark Blues dug in and refused to buckle.<\/p>\n
This was always going to be a free hit and there were plenty of positives for Pressley as his side bid to get away from trouble down the bottom of the table.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Celtic Park saluted the 73-year-old club legend as Nancy takes the reins 21:56, 03 Dec 2025Updated 01:47, 04…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329455,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[71705,130754,140342,40481,403,99,152829],"class_list":{"0":"post-329454","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-celtic-fc","9":"tag-dundee-fc","10":"tag-martin-oneill","11":"tag-scottish-premiership","12":"tag-soccer","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-wilfried-nancy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}