MARTIN O’NEILL is Celtic’s serial title winner and has topped and tailed the club’s TWENTY-SIX Premiership crowns thus far in this century.
The charismatic 74-year-old Irishman got the ball rolling in his debut 2000/01 campaign and, of course, has just emulated the achievement with this campaign’s extraordinary success.
In one of the most dramatic and remarkable seasons in memory, it looked as though the champions’ flag hopes had been lost in the sand of the unkempt Tannadice surface when they lost 2-0 to Dundee United on March 22.
However, showing commendable courage, O’Neill’s players rose to the challenge, won their next seven league games while bringing down the curtain on a truly memorable fifth championship in succession with their 3-1 triumph over Hearts at a pulsating Parkhead on May 16.
A week later, the Scottish Cup was clinched to add to the O’Neill fairytale.
THAT CHAMPIONSHIP-WINNING FEELING…a delighted Martin O’Neill with the 2025/26 Premiership trophy.
And it all kicked off first time-around exactly TWENTY-SIX ago today with the appointment that tiggered a silverware landslide.
And O’Neill insists the class of 2003 should have followed Stein’s side by lifting a European trophy.
The gaffer quit Leicester City to arrive at the Hoops in the aftermath of the so-called Dream Team of Kenny Dalglish and John Barnes that had backfired so spectacularly.
The Liverpool double-act didn’t quite deliver the expected dividends and Barnes was fired following the Scottish Cup exit from Inverness Caley Thistle in February 2000.
Dalglish, who has been appointed Director of Football, took over dug-out duties and delivered the League Cup following a 2-0 victory over Aberdeen in the Final.
O’Neill was brought in on June 1 2000 and led the team to their first treble in 32 years following Stein’s side in 1968/69, the legendary Lions’ second such feat in three years.
In his first stint, he went on to win three championships, three Scottish Cups and a League Cup – as many trophies as the Hoops had picked up in the previous EIGHTEEN years.
There could have been more silverware – the 2003 title was lost on goal difference before the Hoops blew the crown on the final day two years later.
HAIL HAIL…Martin O’Neill accepts the accolade of the Celtic fans.
O’Neill, though, is still upset the team conceded the opportunity to add continental success to his list when they lost 3-2 in extra-time to Jose Mourinho’s Porto in Seville in 2003.
The extrovert team chief, who also had a spell in charge of the Republic of Ireland international team, said: “I still think the team we built should have won the UEFA Cup against a Porto side who would go on to win the Champions League a year later.
“We would all say that the best and most celebrated Celtic team is Stein’s 1967 side.
“It would be impossible to emulate that European Cup win and their glorious achievements.
“I’ll confess to not knowing too much what Celtic would have looked like in the thirties, fifties and whatnot, but I don’t think since 1967 there was a better Celtic than the one from our era.
“We had young guys like Stiliyan Petrov who was energetic and hungry, we had the finesse of Henrik Larsson and Chris Sutton’s intelligence.
“We had real firepower down the flanks with Didier Agathe and Alan Thompson, we had the power of Bobo Balde in defence.
HOOP HOOP HOORAY…Henrik Larsson is congratulated by a delighted Alan Thompson after one of his goals against Porto in Seville.
“The balance of that team was great, but it was the way they gelled together which made them a very good side.
“And what is frequently overlooked is that when it came to European football, they were all relative novices.
“We were playing against Juventus and Bayern Munich and never once did we think that we couldn’t compete. Whatever they might have stood accused of in terms of deficiencies there would be no-one who could have faulted a lack of spirit or endeavour.”
Prior to O’Neill’s arrival, Celtic had lifted just THREE titles in 18 years – since the turn of the century, they have won TWENTY in 26 seasons with Brendan Rodgers contributing four over his two stints.
The bid for 10 in a row ended in disaster in season 2020/21, but Ange Postecoglou arrived with the force of a whirlwind as he took over from Neil Lennon in June 2021 and propelled the club back on track with two consecutive crowns before Rodgers replaced the Spurs-bound boss two years ago.
DELIGHT AND DESPAIR…Stiliyan Petrov celebrates a goal against a crestfallen Ibrox defence.
O’Neill, speaking in a report from the CQN archives, added: “I think we lit the fuse. The place was just waiting for an enormous lift.
“You are sitting back and watching your rivals take over, you are playing second fiddle and it settles on you as a club.
“You wonder when you are ever getting out of the mess. Celtic were in the doldrums and I think we lifted it.
“Without wanting to be too immodest, I do think that team was the forerunner. I remember talking to the Lisbon Lions when I was just getting my feet under the desk.
“I always remember their message being that, as Celtic fans, they would have a little bit of hope for a month or two then it quickly dissipated.
“The way we broke Rangers’ stranglehold would have been significant. When I first arrived, Dick Advocaat signed a load of players. He said that he wanted one team for the league and one for the Champions League.
“Well, you hear that kind of thing, you’re thinking: ‘Well, that might come back to bite’.
“Rangers were going into the Champions League and we were having to play a qualifier against Jeunesse Esch just to get into the UEFA Cup. But that was where we were as a club.”
FINAL FAREWELL…Martin O’Neill and his crestfallen Celtic players acknowledge the supporters at the end of the epic UEFA Cup showdown in Seville in 2003.
Celtic achieved their 55th title with a 5-0 romp against Dundee United at Tannadice on April 26 last year as Rodgers guided the team to their fourth successive flag with a 17-point advantage.
Following his swift departure in late October, O’Neill answered the SOS to take over in an interim capacity before a permanent manager was announced.
The veteran coach led the team to eight wins in eight games before Wilfried Nancy took over in early December. Following a catastrophic 33 days in charge and six defeat in eight games, the Frenchman was axed – and O’Neill was back in the hot seat.
It’s history now that the popular team chief plotted the way to a 56th crown and also a 43rd Scottish Cup.
Add 22 League Cups plus, of course, the European Cup, the Parkhead men have now amassed a breathtaking 122 honours, more than any other European club.
Roll on the 2026/27 campaign!
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