Truth stranger than fiction as O'Neill leads Celtic from hostility to happiness

Breaking news from the world of sport: Truth stranger than fiction as O'Neill leads Celtic from hostility to happiness Figure caption, Celtic lift Premiership trophy after dramatic final dayByTom English Scotland's chief sports writerPublished13 minutes agoOn a grim Sunday at Tannadice in March, Celtic lost 2-0 to Jim Goodwin's Dundee United, a defeat that put them five points behind Hearts, and two behind Rangers. Martin O'Neill, a strange amalgam of dejection and defiance, didn't mince his words about how wounding the defeat was, but he was strong on all hope not being lost. Celtic, he said, would have to win seven out of seven on the run-in.

"We disappointed an awful lot of people today," he remarked. "It's been difficult since I've set foot in the place. This is a blow but we're not finished yet.

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"The truth was that O'Neill and Celtic were only getting started. He asked for seven wins on the bounce and, up until Saturday's endgame in Glasgow, he had six. Tense, nervous, only occasionally impressive and frequently a grind, but 18 points from a possible 18 while in chasing mode.

It was an illustration of a doggedness that wasn't there in the final weeks of Brendan Rodgers' time and that was embarrassingly absent during the calamitous weeks of Wilfried Nancy's period in charge. Now they've made it 21 points out of 21 and they're champions again. They've hunted down and overtaken a Hearts side that has done very little wrong all season.

After walking into a shambles, exiting and then re-entering an even bigger shambles, O'Neill has won 19 of his 23 Premiership games with just two losses. They are not impressive winners but they are worthy winners. They've triumphed on the back of spirit rather than class.

Reactions and Expectations

They've benefitted from some extremely controversial calls along the way - particularly in recent weeks - but a race is run across an entire campaign and their fans will not be slow in telling you about decisions they felt went against them, and for Hearts, over the past 10 months. That's a wearying game to play, not that it's stopping people from playing it. Celtic stun Hearts with late double to snatch title in astonishing finale Latest Celtic news, analysis and fan views Title only masks season of discontentTheir victory merits proper analysis, though.

The Celtic board should be doing a deep dive on this stuff rather than solely basking in their win and concluding that another title shows that not much is wrong at Celtic Park, when it plainly is. After the cheering they need to do some serious analysing. They need some brutal honesty.

Celtic won the league with 82 points - 10 fewer than last season, 11 fewer than the season before, 17 fewer than the season before that. If you have high standards, then that direction of travel should be seen as a challenge. They scored 73 goals - a massive reduction on last season's 112 and on the 95, 114, 92 and 92 in the seasons that went before.

The story has climbed to the top of the sports agenda, with fans and analysts following closely.