Martin O’Neill has been Celtic’s permanent manager since 11 June 2026, on a one-year deal with a further year optional. Seven league games into the title defence, Celtic are still top of the Premiership on 18 points, but the last eight days before the international break brought three defeats in a row: 3-0 at Ibrox in the League Cup, 3-1 at home to Ferencváros in the Europa League and 1-0 at home to Rangers in the league. The squad is almost unrecognisable from the one that won the title in May.
That level of upheaval makes Celtic one of the more interesting teams to assess in Scottish football right now. Following how O’Neill reshapes the side during the break, how quickly the new signings settle and how Celtic respond in higher-pressure fixtures is relevant not only to supporters but also to readers looking to make more informed betting decisions. For that audience, a ranking of the best UK sports betting sites can provide a useful starting point when comparing the platforms available before assessing markets around Celtic, the Premiership and British football more broadly.
From Interim Caretaker to Permanent Manager in Eight Months
O’Neill took the job on 27 October 2025, hours after Brendan Rodgers left, and was meant to hold the fort. Celtic instead appointed Wilfried Nancy on 4 December and sacked him 33 days later. O’Neill returned on 5 January 2026, not as a permanent appointment but as manager until the end of the season. He then won the league. Celtic beat Hearts 3-1 at Celtic Park on the final matchday, taking a fifth consecutive Premiership title and a record 56th Scottish league championship in front of 59,079 people, and denying Hearts a first title since 1960. A week later they beat Dunfermline to win the Scottish Cup and complete the double, his ninth trophy as Celtic manager across two spells. The permanent contract followed on 11 June, after Dermot Desmond had also held talks with Robbie Keane. O’Neill, now 74, kept Shaun Maloney and added Mark Fotheringham as assistant, with Stephen McManus on the first team and Ross Grant brought in as a dedicated set-piece coach.
What the Summer Window Bought
Celtic signed ten players. The two that matter most arrived early and cost real money. Camilo Durán, the Colombian forward, came from Qaraba? for a reported £6m after scoring five Champions League goals last season against Newcastle, Ajax, Eintracht Frankfurt and Benfica. Kasper Høgh followed from Bodø/Glimt in late July for a club-record £11m, roughly €12.9m. Midfielder Mika Baur arrived from Paderborn and winger Haissem Hassan from Real Oviedo, both in time for the Champions League registration deadline. Then came a deadline-week rush of six more: Joel van den Berg from PSV in a deal worth up to £3.4m, plus loans for goalkeeper Sam Johnstone from Wolves, right-back Jordan Lotomba from Feyenoord, midfielder Oliver Sørensen from Parma, and two Chelsea players, striker Shim Mheuka and 18-year-old left-back Landon Emenalo.
Mheuka, Emenalo and van den Berg were all left out of the Europa League list, as was Jota. O’Neill said domestic football came first and that the new signings needed to make their mark there before Europe.
The Exits Paid for It
Fourteen players left. Arne Engels went to West Ham for £22m and Daizen Maeda to Ipswich for £10m, the two sales that funded everything else. Reo Hatate joined Burnley, Johnny Kenny went to Preston, Luis Palma to Lech Pozna? for £3.5m, Hayato Inamura to FC Tokyo, and Maik Nawrocki and Josh Clarke also departed. Kelechi Iheanacho and Stephen Welsh left on frees, Kasper Schmeichel retired after a shoulder injury, and Paulo Bernardo, Michel-Ange Balikwisha, Shin Yamada and Adam Montgomery went out on loan. Celtic spent over €30m and still finished the window in profit, reported at around £16m, although figures vary between outlets.
Durán, Høgh and the Rest of the XI
Callum McGregor remains captain. Cameron Carter-Vickers and Liam Scales are still the centre-back pairing, with Kieran Tierney at left-back when fit and Alistair Johnston on the right. Viljami Sinisalo has kept his place in goal. Durán has been the standout, named Premiership Player of the Month for August and credited with six goals in 12 appearances in all competitions up to the Rangers game. That form earned him a first Colombia call-up for this international break, although he has now gone four Celtic games without scoring. Høgh scored a first-half hat-trick in the 5-1 win at Kilmarnock on 9 August and has not scored since.
The one piece of good news in the squad is Jota. The Portuguese winger, out since rupturing his ACL in April 2025, is due to play a behind-closed-doors friendly during the break. O’Neill has said he has been “doing really well in small-sided matches”, with the end of October as the likeliest return.
Three Defeats in Eight Days: Rangers Twice and Ferencváros
In August, Celtic led LASK 3-0 from the first leg of the Champions League play-off and lost the tie 5-4 on aggregate after extra time, dropping into the Europa League. On 13 September, Derek McInnes won his first Old Firm match as Rangers manager, 3-0 at Ibrox in the League Cup quarter-final, through a Dan Neil double and a Kevin Kelsy volley.
Four days later Ferencváros won 3-1 at Celtic Park in the Europa League opener. Bamidele Yusuf and Kristoffer Zachariassen scored in the first half, Mika Baur pulled one back, and Daniel Arzani restored the two-goal lead straight after the restart. O’Neill called it “a European lesson for us in many aspects.”
Then Rangers came back to Celtic Park on 20 September and won 1-0. Ryan Naderi scored on 33 minutes after Sinisalo parried a Kim Min-su shot from a James Penrice corner. Opta counted five Celtic shots, one on target, against 15 for Rangers. The defeat ended a run of 13 straight league wins and made McInnes the first Rangers manager since Graeme Souness in 1986 to win his first two Old Firm games. Celtic were booed off. Across the three games they scored once and conceded seven.
Desmond’s Position and the October Fixture List
On 23 September, Mark Guidi said on Go Radio that “Dermot Desmond will not sack the manager who is sitting at the top of the league.” The table supports that: after seven games Celtic have 18 points, two clear of Rangers and five clear of Hearts, with a goal difference of +10.
The schedule after the break is heavy. Celtic go to Motherwell on Sunday 11 October, travel to Benfica on Thursday 15 October, host Hearts on Sunday 18 October and Celta Vigo on Thursday 22 October, then visit Hibernian on Sunday 25 October. That is five games in 15 days. Two points ahead with a squad this new, does the break help O’Neill fix the problems, or does October decide whether this title defence holds?
Image Source: unsplash.com
