ALEX’S ANGLE: TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED

WINSTON CHURCHILL, back in 1939, once famously described Russia as “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”

God knows what the man voted “The Greatest-Ever Briton” in a BBC viewers’ poll in 2002 would make of the current Celtic team.

The mind does handstands at what Old Winnie would have conjured up for the champions who have been riding the Big Dipper from day one of a turbulent and chaotic campaign that veered towards spectacular implosion following the catastrophic appointment of the wretched Wilfried Nancy.

Before a ball had been kicked in anger, Brendan Rodgers needlessly informed everyone that he had held talks with Dermot Desmond, the club’s principal shareholder, and Michael Nicholson, the chief executive, and there were “conditions we want in to be able to improve and be better because I’m not the type of manager who is good at maintaining anything.

“If it’s just something to maintain, I’m not the manager for Celtic.”

GLUM…Brendan Rodgers as he heads for the Celtic exit.

Hardly the most encouraging words you may have anticipated hearing from your team chief as the champions prepared to kick off their season with the Flag Day encounter against St Mirren at Parkhead on August 3.

The hosts scraped an unconvincing 1-0 win courtesy of a late strike from Luke McCowan and it wasn’t long before the distress flares were lighting up the sky in the east end of Glasgow.

There were the two grim and dreary displays against the unknown Kazakhstans of Kairat Almaty and elimination from the Champions League without a goal being scored in three and a half hours against a team thrashed in seven of their eight outings at the league stage of Europe’s most prestigious competition.

It was fairly dismal fare as the team stumbled through the scoreless stalemate in the first derby of the crusade in Govan at the conclusion of a miserable month, two sets of players going through a tame routine more suited for ‘Strictly Come Dancing‘ in which keepers Kasper Schmeichel and Jack Butland could have taken seats in the stand and caught up with their Sunday reading.

And in October, Rodgers’ words “I’m not the manager for Celtic” echoed loud and clear when he vamoosed from Parkhead for the second time following back-to-back Premiership losses at Dundee (0-2) and Hearts (1-3).

The team boss left to a vicious verbal salvo from Desmond that went along the lines of the manager being “divisive, misleading and self-serving”. Not exactly an observation anyone would wish in their CV.

It’s history now that Martin O’Neill stepped up in an interim capacity and won seven of his eight games – the solitary loss coming against FC Midtjylland in a Europa League game in Denmark.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. However, as I’ve said often enough, it’s also bloody useless.

Yes, we should have stuck with the charismatic Irishman and should never have been introduced to a Frenchman who had no European managerial experience and had spent four years in the MLS as head coach at CF Montreal and then Columbus Crew.

GRIM…Wilfried Nancy lasted 33 chaotic days before the axe fell.

I queried if he had any conception of what he was walking into at Celtic. I asked if he could cope with the expectation levels and the intensity. I made the points ahead of his first appearance when Hearts visited on December 7.

Eight games – and six defeats – later we had our answer. Nancy and the rest of his three-man backroom entourage were handed their P45s and told to look elsewhere for employment.

O’Neill answered the SOS for a second time and has performed miracles to get the team revitalised and back on track.

We can never forget this was a collection of players who were on the floor following Nancy’s disastrous 33 days at the helm. Four league defeats – and the concession of TWELVE precious points – a hapless performance in the Premier Sports League Cup Final nosedive against St Mirren and a humiliating 3-0 gubbing at home to AS Roma in the Europa League.

That was the x-certificate sequence – punctuated with a 3-1 win over 10-man Aberdeen in Glasgow and a 4-2 success over rock-bottom Livingston in West Lothian – that O’Neill inherited at the beginning of the year.

And, yet, at this stage of the most bizarre campaign in recent history, Celtic can still round it off as League and Cup double winners.

It’s a truly astonishing situation when you take everything into consideration. But it is possible.

The pressure is on O’Neill to continue to galvanise his players and inspire them and wring out the last ounce of energy to get the club over the line.

I doubt if the stress overload will blur the manager’s vision. A lot may be made of him celebrating his 74th birthday last Sunday. So what? I can hardly be accused of being ageist. I’m the same age, 30 days older if you wish to be pedantic.

I’ve been blessed with good health and I make the most of it. I get the drift O’Neill, despite some self-deprecating comments about the date on his birth certificate, may share the same thought process.

GALVANISING…Martin O’Neill displays his leadership characteristics.

Now there is the little matter of seeing off Ibrox opposition in the Scottish Cup quarter-final tomorrow.

In a season that has baffled, bewildered and driven some observers to strong drink, anything would appear possible.

Last weekend, Celtic were all over the place as they were pushed onto the backfoot by Danny Rohl’s aggressive team. The Hoops’ players looked more than a tad alarmed as they made their way to the sanctuary of the dressing room after a 45-minute mauling and trailing 2-0.

“We weren’t even second best,” quipped our genial son of Kilrea.

The players came out of reverse for the second-half and salvaged a point in a 2-2 draw. True grit and leadership qualities from Callum McGregor and Kieran Tierney plus a welcome return to form from Reo Hatate, O’Neill’s inspired second-half introduction, turned the encounter on its head.

It was scarcely believable. But in a crusade such as the one you and I are witnessing at the moment it appears anything is achievable.

What would Old Winnie make of it all?

A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma?

Doesn’t even come close, does it?

Let’s hope the real Celtic turn up at Ibrox tomorrow.

ALEX GORDON