When Martin O’Neill final led Celtic on 3 December, he should have thought his managerial profession was over – once more.

Introduced out of the managerial wilderness for his first function in six years after Brendan Rodgers’ acrimonious departure, O’Neill received seven of his eight matches in cost and restored confidence to each Celtic followers and supporters.

If it was doable, he enhanced his already sky-high repute at Parkhead after profitable seven main honours in his first stint from 2000-05.

He handed over an in-form facet to new boss Wilfried Nancy, however returns to a squad stripped of that confidence after six defeats in eight matches, together with a loss within the League Cup closing that O’Neill acquired them to.

Nancy lasted simply 33 days in Glasgow and didn’t appear to understand what had labored throughout his predecessor’s interim reign.

The Frenchman deserted O’Neill’s functioning 4-3-3 system in favour of a flawed 3-4-3 one and shipped objectives at an alarming price.

Not solely did he lose at Hampden, he additionally misplaced to Rangers in his closing match in cost, after which midfielder Luke McCowan mentioned: “When has it ever been this unhealthy? It is by no means.” Hardly a ringing endorsement of a supervisor who could be dismissed a day later.

O’Neill should now decide up the identical group of gamers for a second time this season if Celtic are to chase down Hearts and Rangers of their pursuit of a fifth straight Premiership title.

That mission begins towards Dundee United on Saturday.