O’Neill’s spark transforms Celtic

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So many great performances, where to start?  The left wing.  Yang had a lot to do when Reo Hatate’s pitched cross dropped two yards beyond the far post.  The outer edge of his right foot poked the ball beyond keeper Wellenreuther and Celtic were level.  Yang has speed, the ability to get past a defender and is perhaps the best crosser among the multitude of wingers at the club, but he also has that innate sense of when to make a run.

What elevates forward players is often not their ability to shoot from within 8 yards of the goal (where the bulk of goals are scored), but how they unthinkingly find space to connect with the ball.  Martin O’Neill knows a thing or two about footballers, listen to him on Yang:

“He does things that we can’t do.  He can turn players he can beat players.  He’s strong, and he can manoeuvre it.  He can do all of those things.  It’s just a matter of giving him confidence the whole way through.”

He arrived in Scotland in July 2023 having just turned 21 into an environment which sapped every ounce of confidence from him.  Before Martin arrived in 2000, Celtic destroyed promising talent for decades – just like happened to Yang.  Martin stopped the rot, which had again taken hold in recent seasons.  You and I have a job to do to support this player.

Daizen Maeda had a typical Daizen Maeda game.  He ran constantly and lost the ball frequently, but on two occasions, he timed forward runs which resulted in the second and third goals.  Every goalkeeper in Scotland watches for his runs, Wellenreuther did not get the memo.  The keeper’s waited too long for a pass to reach him and Daizen blocked the clearance.

Reo Hatate had even more to do than Yang when presented with his chance. The midfielder returned a fast moving ball with a first-time shot into the empty net.  Anyone who has played football will tell you, putting the ball into an empty net is one of the hardest things in the game.  Our players from Japan and Korea were simply too good for Feyenoord.

Arne Engels (22) joined the club as part of that much-maligned £32m spend in the summer of 2024.  We paid significantly over the odds for a young player who was relegated to the bench in the early part of this season.  He bossed the middle of the park last night and was a true leader.

Missing three defenders, at least two of whom would be first choices, Celtic were organised and effective at the back.  Two left footed central defenders showed how ridiculous the myth was that they were not up to the task of playing at Tynecastle.  Who knows what state the club would be in had Martin O’Neill not brought some sanity back to our game.  Congratulations to all involved in a fabulous win.

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297 Comments

  1. Greenpinata @ 3:16 pm, Celtic40me @ 3:28 pm,

     

     

    He is a wealthy man, you need to be if you want to live in the Chilterns and buy coffee in London:))

     

     

    Anyways, no way would I question Martin’s integrity – he was a legend in High Wycombe way before he was a legend in Glasgow.

     

     

    Still being offered a position by someone who clearly has the wherewithal and desire to compensate you is always a plus.

     

     

    When he first came to Celtic, he said it took him two seconds to make up his mind – his father once told him he should be prepared to walk on broken glass to Glasgow if the opportunity to play for Celtic arose, so how could he possibly say no to the manager’s job there.

     

     

    The thing is CQN when it started was no friend of Martin’s and his relationship with Peter Lawwell was terse to say the least.

     

     

    In fact when Peter Lawwell was due to come in as Chief Executive in late 2003, Martin got his title lowered to Head of Operations and insisted he stayed in charge of the Club.

     

     

    That’s how it began but it changed in the 2004/05 season.

     

     

    It is no coincidence it was our principal shareholder that made the call to Martin in October and not our Multi-millionaire Chaiman.

     

     

    Anyways, Celtic40me – glad you were enjoyed our victory over Feyenoord this time, you weren’t overly impressed by the “dead rubber” two years ago, were you?

     

     

    Hail Hail

  2. Next two games in Europa League are against Italian Serie A opposition

     

     

    We are in 21st position with 7 points

     

     

    Bologna who we play away are above Celtic in 18th position on 8 points

     

     

    Roma who we play at home are in 15th position on 9 points

     

     

    If we can collect 4 points over the two games against Italian opposition we will be very close to qualification, 2 points from 2 draws would still leave us with hope, both games will be a step up from Feyenoord who are having a dreadful run, and a repeat of last nights performance will be required at the very least

     

     

    Our last game in the Europa is at home against Utrecht, who are in 32nd place they only have one point so far, avoiding at least defeat in next two games follow up with a very winnable last home game would se us with 12 points and hopefully qualification

  3. I missed the game last night – heard we were excellent from tims in work – I don’t know what it is MON has but f me he has loads of it

  4. The good lady has spoilt me and bought me a nice wee Celtic managers Christmas calendar….

     

    I fully expect a pleasant surprise when I open it on Monday morning 1st December 🌲🥳🤔👍

  5. Chairbhoy on 28th November 2025 1:43 pm

     

    Had some beers with the big man a few years ago. Great big guy.

  6. The Battered Bunnet on

    MON maybe soiled his jotter today with the remark that Celtic can only thrive in the company of a strong Rangers.

  7. AN DUN

     

     

    Most of Yangs appearances have been on the right wing..and for some reason he is not very good on that wing..so what do we do i think he scores more goals than our new recruit.IMO

  8. The Battered Bunnet @ 4:31 pm,

     

     

    OOoooops….

     

     

    Must be a Chilterns thing.

     

     

    Scottish football needs a strong Hibs, the Hearts and the Celtic reserves.

     

     

    Hail Hail

  9. Timhorton @ 4:41 pm,

     

     

    Yes, Meada’s form on the right wing and Jota coming back didn’t help his cause.

     

     

    Hail Hail

  10. the battered bunnett

     

     

    Similar comments were made by both Fergus McCann and Dermot Desmond when Rangers FC* went into administration, liquidation (or relegation) if you like. Thing is, folks who work in the game, run clubs or even play the game are going to have a different persepective than those cheering from the sidelines. In other words they work in the same industry. Martin has over fifty years in the game. Did those working in the High Street celebrate when Woolworths went out of business? I doubt it very much.

  11. TBB -Coaches and players want to be tested, not canter to titles in a one horse race. Therein lies the path to stagnation and boredom. A team without genuine competition will not stimulate the mind of coaches like MoN. They end up ringing it in. Same as the players. There are only so many ways you can motivate players when they have a 20 point lead and marching to yet another title.

     

     

    Ideally, Aberdeen, Dundee Utd, Hibs and Hearts would all be pushing for honours but it is getting close to half a century since that was genuinely the case.

     

     

    For better or worse, a strong huns team would push Celtic to raise its game on and off the field. The fact that they are the establishment team and proven cheats of the highest order gives it an extra edge even when they are crap on the park. Their mismanagement has allowed us to hoover up titles, doubles and trebles to the point our younger fans think it is the norm. I wonder if our current board would still be in situ if we had lost the last 3-4 titles?

     

     

    I can see why MoN, DD, Fergus and the rest of the players and managers mostly think that a strong rangers is good for Celtic.

     

     

    I also understand why many fans think the opposite and would be happy to live in a world where rangers didn’t exist. But they would also want us to be competing in Europe despite being able to win all games at home without getting out of 2nd gear.

  12. Think the bold Rod had a good day yesterday 😂👍🍾🍷🍷🍷

     

     

    A braw day had by all 👍👏🥳☘️

  13. DeniaBhoy on 28th November 2025 5:34 pm

     

    …The fact that they are the establishment team and proven cheats of the highest order gives it an extra edge even when they are crap on the park…

     

    _____

     

    If they weren’t the establishment team nor proven cheats, then they’d wouldn’t be a strong Huns team😁. Maybe they’d be Sevco. That said, they will surely get better at some point and theoretically that might push us to be better.

  14. Chairbhoy it must be so painful for you. I really feel it. For 20 years you have been saying how badly the club is run. The same 20 when we have won 16 leagues. The same period we successfully right sized and still under WGS managed to beat a cheating rangers and reach last 16 in CL twice.

     

     

    I know it is hard for you and the chance we might actually win domestically again must be tough. I am sure if we stuck with MON you would be asking what the board had not found a manager and be saying we were toxic. Still if CQN lets you pour your bitterness out then that’s well and good. I am happy for you.

  15. Burnley78 @ 6:05 pm,

     

     

    Great to see you are a Martin O’Neill convert as well.

     

     

    Maybe we can start talking about our 25 years of domination.

     

     

    The 19 titles we have won out of 25.

     

     

    It was Martin who started the ball rolling – Brendan who got us to peak trophy winning.

     

     

    Bigging up Peter’s pal WGS and Lenny is all well and good, but it’s less than half the story isn’t it.

     

     

    In fact between the two of them, they lost four out of the four titles we’ve dropped in the last twenty years.

     

     

    C’mon, credit where it’s due.

     

     

    How’s the cowards that went to Roger Hannah at The Sun doing?

     

     

    Hail Hail

  16. Seeing reports that that Polis Scotland have made four additional arrests connected to the “disturbance” at the Celtic – Falkirk game on 29 October. One, a 31 year old male was arrested and charged for assault of a steward, and three others, also males, in their 20s were arrested and charged in relation to the incident. That makes 8 arrests so far (assuming the three earlier arrests for breach of the peace were related to the same incident) which suggests that the disturbance itself was either serious, or is being treated as serious. Some on here think breach of peace charges in Scotland are trivial (Mac & Martin of the GB certainly do), but they can vary in terms of procedings and sentence, and you can face jail time on either. Maybe we’ll get follow up statements from the North Curve, the CT, the GB and the Celtic Fans Collective.

  17. Any comment from The Board yet,about the serious assault of a Celtic physio ,while he was working at Ibrox? Was a RIDDOR report carried out? Or bottles thrown at Joe Hart,Matt O’Riley at the same venue?

     

     

     

    Answer A) No

     

    Answer B) Shitebags

     

     

     

    Talking about us to behave,and stop acting like bullies, honestly what a laugh….

  18. outstanding work from the foundation.

     

     

    i ask this often

     

     

    should celtic plc declare that a percentage of pre-tax profit should be donated to charity foundations every year ?

     

     

    back to the real purpose of the founding fathers.

  19. the bada bing

     

     

    Pretty sure the perp who assaulted the Celtic Physio @ Ayebrokes was identified, arrested, charged and jailed.

     

    You seem to think otherwise……

  20. I posted last week, would guys keep MON and SM till end of the season, mostly negative responses….my view was too many changes again might not work at this time…..

  21. Celtic Mac on 28th November 2025 7:05 pm

     

    the bada bing

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Pretty sure the perp who assaulted the Celtic Physio @ Ayebrokes was identified, arrested, charged and jailed.

     

     

     

     

    You seem to think otherwise……

     

     

    I know that happened, but zero comment from the cowards in charge of the Club to defend it’s employees

  22. The Bada Bing @ 6:22 pm

     

     

    ‘Showjumping ‘

     

     

    That was brilliant, and true

     

     

    An Tearmann @ 6:23 pm,

     

     

    Thanks for the link, great presser by Martin – he’s made some impact, he’s going to be missed.

     

     

    Hail Hail

  23. Saint Stivs on 28th November 2025 7:05 pm

     

    outstanding work from the foundation.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    i ask this often

     

     

     

     

     

     

    should celtic plc declare that a percentage of pre-tax profit should be donated to charity foundations every year ?

     

     

     

     

     

     

    back to the real purpose of the founding fathers.

     

     

     

    Happy to pay plenty in Corporation Tax,so why not use it for good causes,and spending money on the stadium, and it’s footprint

  24. controversial view. or maybe not.

     

     

    celtic plc paying the correct elements of tax pays for

     

     

    nhs staff. fire services. schools and housing.

     

     

    is that not a better thing than tax avoidance on boondogle schemes ?

  25. BADA @ 6:55

     

    Pity Matt,Joe and other members of staff didn’t consult a solicitor(s) regarding the danger that they faced as they went about their lawful employment at Ipox.