Celtic's Scottish midfielder #42 Callum McGregor (R) leads his team in applauding the fans at the end of the UEFA Europa League league stage football match between Celtic and Roma at Celtic Park in Glasgow on December 11, 2025. (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP via Getty Images)
Martin O’Neill’s press conference the other day was excellent for a number of reasons.
The moment that stood out most was when he accused the hacks of failing to show enough respect for Celtic and for Celtic’s comeback this season.
That matters when you remember where this club was when he took over for the second time, in the aftermath of the chaos left behind by Wilfred Nancy.
O’Neill is right to defend his players. He is right to demand recognition for what they have done.
But here is the truth.
We are not going to get that credit.
Even if Celtic lift the trophy at the end of the season and become champions again, the media will not give this team what it deserves.
We might claw back a little if we win today.
But the full recognition? That was never coming.
The media decided months ago that this was going to be the Year of Hearts. That narrative suited them because it meant they did not have to write about another Celtic title. When the Ibrox club briefly moved in front of us, the storyline changed again.
Suddenly it was the Year of Ibrox.
Anything. Anything at all except the Year of Celtic.
Now let’s be honest. Celtic have been our own worst enemy this season. No one denies that. But even if we had been ten percent better, they would still have found a way to avoid giving us the credit. Instead, the praise will go elsewhere.
It will go to Hearts for their heroic challenge. It will go to Motherwell for their remarkable campaign. Or it will go to Danny Rohl for dragging his team back from the brink.
And Celtic?
Celtic will get very little of it.
The summer narratives are already written.
Aberdeen will supposedly come back stronger. Motherwell will return with renewed belief, assuming nobody steals their manager. Hearts will be described as a club “one year closer” to achieving their dream of winning the title.
Personally, I would be surprised if Hearts even finish in the top four next season. European football combined with a full domestic campaign will crush them.
This season is their shot. Right here. And in truth it is also the Ibrox club’s shot. Because if Celtic win the title again, it becomes very hard to see who stops us for the next three or four years.
Yes, we have a massive rebuild ahead of us this summer. But if the Ibrox club finishes third they will face chaos of their own. To lose next season’s title from there would require Celtic to make an absolutely colossal mess of things.
That cannot be ruled out, of course. There are still people at Celtic capable of making that kind of mess. But it would have to be monumental.
So, forget about the credit. We are not going to get it.
If we win today the media will talk about resilience. They will praise determination. They will focus on Martin O’Neill.
But the wider recognition that this team deserves will still not arrive.
More likely they will frame any defeat for the Ibrox club as Danny Rohl’s failure rather than Celtic’s success.
Still, here is the good news.
Who actually cares what the outside world thinks?
No one inside the tent cares. No one inside the walls of the castle cares.
The only credit Martin O’Neill needs is the credit he receives from the Celtic supporters.
And if he wins this title?
It will be his greatest achievement as Celtic manager.
If he wins the double, people will start joking about statues.
And they will not entirely be joking.
Because it would be a miracle.
The players do not need outside recognition either. The only applause that matters is the applause that comes from the Celtic support. If this team gets over the line they will be remembered as the group that dragged Celtic through one of the most chaotic seasons in modern history. They did it despite everything.
They did it despite the worst instincts of our own board of directors.
I cannot remember another Celtic side that had to endure what this one has endured.
Our captain publicly begged the board for help. He was ignore just as so many managers before him were ignored.
If this team wins the title they will never need external validation again.
There is a moment in Fight Club that has always stuck with me.
The central character never has a name. Critics often call him Jack because of the magazine articles he reads where body parts speak in the first person. At one point the narrator beats himself up in front of his boss and declares:
“I am Jack’s smirking revenge.”
That is what today represents for Celtic. Our smirking revenge.
We have taken plenty of punishment this season. The board damaged us. Critics mocked us. Our previous manager created chaos, and I don’t mean the Irishman. The club has been battered from every direction. Yet here we are.
Win today and we move closer to another semi-final at Hampden. We remain firmly in the title race. A double is still possible.
In a dreadful season Celtic could still finish one step short of a treble.
Of course we must still get there.
Our rivals stand in the way today and the task is simple. Beat what is in front of you. Then take the next step.
History will not remember the chaos. History will remember the trophies.
We will know the difference, of course. We know how hard this season has been and how much blood and emotion has been poured into it.
That is why today matters.
Yes, if we win today the media will be forced to acknowledge it.
But the real recognition will come later.
It will come from the Celtic supporters who lived through this season. Because this has been a shared experience. A painful one at times. Not a season we ever want to repeat. But if Celtic clear this hurdle today the road to the happiest possible ending opens again.
So, if I could send one message to those players it would be simple.
Leave everything out there on the pitch. Win today and I have no doubt we will finish the larger job and end this season on the ultimate high.
Choose The CelticBlog as a “Preferred Source” on Google News for quick access to the news you value.
Well said James, a reminder to us all just how hard it has been this season, a very unpalatable experience for all of us, there has been much more downs than ups, but that is about to change for there is still light at the end of the tunnel, there is still that lingering hope of a successful outcome, and today’s the day the teddy bears have their dick kicked. A collective effort from players and fans alike today will destroy that mob, they are ripe for the plucking, they are bricking it big time and all we need is the focus and belief to deliver the killing blow that will virtually end their season.
It won’t be easy, that’s for sure, we will have to be on them from the word go, but the nerves are all in their camp, they are the ones under pressure from the stands and I am convinced that they will buckle under the strain. We have a Lion in charge of our foot soldiers, they have a timid, bedraggled, gumsy sheep attempting to give them the backbone to stand up to us.
Needless to say I am very confident of a result today that will take us into the Semis.
Come on you bhoys in green.
No Calmac or Tierney!
This is gonna be even more brutal than I thought.
Aye, that makes it a lot more difficult, I’m not quite so confident now.
Whose left to drive us on ?
We need passionate Celts to do that and 2 core ones are out.
I’m struggling to find a positive angle to look at this from that gives us a win.
Kill or cure — interesting team selection.
MF looks a bit short of everything.
CMcG no show — interesting to see where this gets us.
Mix today has gaps but it is all about effort.
The squad is looking threadbare.
Even with the loans.
I know I sound defeatist…
But I’m away out a spin in the motor to the nature trails…
Fuck watching that today…
Lucan’s policy will finally come home to roost…
Sevco fans will outchant The Free Broomloan singing Sack the Board by chanting Keep the Board…
Hang your fuckin heads grey suited bastards !
This is Luke’s big chance to step up!
90 come and gone and for some strange reason we’re still in it. Hopefully that’s a good sign, playing crap but not getting beat. Celtic might just nick something from this game. LOL!
Huns getting away with incidents where they should have been booked. So what’s new? It now goes to penalties. It would be a right sickener if we won this today. There would be Hun meltdowns exploding all over the UK. LOL!
Tavernier & Gassama win it for Celtic…..LOL!
No fecking way !
Yaaaaas !
Now watch the bitter Hun media focus on the scenes at the end where Celtic fans spilled celebrations onto the pitch. Then angry Huns spilled onto the pitch to try and charge the Celtic fans, before legging it away back to the stand. The scummy media will blame Celtic for this, or at very best will blame both when it was the Huns who were looking to fight.
Either way, this is a pure sickener for Sevco. Rohl should be asked again, are Celtic your toughest opponents? LMFAO
They only legged it back to the stand so that they could make a swift exit, get round to the other end and ambush the Celtic fans.
Fucking brilliant!
Dogged and determined and victorious.
Right away the commentator accused both sets of fans and then said we won’t be discussing it while we are watching the Sevco fans firing flares into the Celtic end and the police doing nothing about it.
It will be the Celtic fans’ fault like it was Hibernian in the cup final while the board stand by and do nothing.
Remember “They were only defending their team” ?
ALL CELTIC SUPPORTERS…
ENJOY ENJOY YOUR NIGHT…
BUT PLEASE BE VIGILANT AND STAY SAFE !
And supris suprise the scum go to there default position violence and no doubt the soup taking media will try to deflect the blame onto Celtic also statement o clock from sevco board of deflection they are so predictable they are a parody. Finally alll sorts of chaos going on in the planet but at PMQs FMQs all sorts of question only in this pathetic bigoted racist country.
I don’t know where / how / why it came from but karma is a doll when she is on your side.
Almost 10 years from the day — but it was worth the wait.
We are a poor football team but the pressure is killing them.