Martin O’Neill sealed a sensational return to Celtic last night — just hours after the club sacked Wilfried Nancy.
On yet another day of incredible drama in Scottish football, Nancy was axed on the back of the weekend’s 3-1 loss to Rangers in the Old Firm derby.
That was his sixth defeat in eight matches and Nancy’s disastrous reign spanned just 33 days in total.
Celtic also confirmed that Paul Tisdale, the club’s much-maligned head of football operations, has left his role with immediate effect.
It brings to an end the worst — and shortest — managerial reign in the club’s history, with Nancy in charge for little over a month after being hired from Columbus Crew in America.
That left the club scrambling to find a replacement, with Parkhead icon O’Neill now returning to the club for a third spell in charge.
Martin O’Neill is back in charge of Celtic and has set his sights on claiming the league title
Wilfried Nancy’s torment at Celtic Park is over after six defeats in his eight games in charge
O’Neill will lead Celtic until the end of the season while the club search for a permanent boss
The 73-year-old took the job on an interim basis following the resignation of Brendan Rodgers back in October and publicly admitted he would have stayed on, only for the club to appoint Nancy instead.
Immediately setting his sights on winning the league, O’Neill said: ‘It is a mad, crazy football world. Because it’s all happened so quickly, I really don’t know what to say.
‘I’m obviously very pleased and privileged to be back at the football club, but in circumstances like this, with Wilfried leaving the club, that just seems a wee bit strange at this moment.
‘I had a 15 or 20-minute conversation with him the day after he came in. I’ve been there before as a young manager coming into a strange environment.
‘It’s a tough old business. He (Nancy) will be successful again and he’ll have learned an awful lot.
‘We know we’re in a big fight. We’re going to try and win the league.
‘It won’t be easy, although it never is, but we’re halfway through the season, we’ve got a big fight on our hands, so we have to be up to the challenge.’
Celtic’s 3-1 Old Firm loss to Rangers, having led at half-time, was the final straw for the board
Asked about how long he might be in charge, O’Neill continued: ‘After the conversation with Dermot Desmond, it might be a longer period until the end of the season.
‘That would give the club time to really look around and get someone in who can be here for the next three or four years.
‘But, of course, I’m in the football business. I might not see it through till the end of the season because, ultimately, you need to win games. The last little spell was fine. Now we start again.’
Nancy’s backroom staff have also been emptied, with O’Neill once again bringing in Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham as his assistants.
Speaking prior to the news being confirmed, former Celtic striker Chris Sutton agreed that going back to the veteran boss was the safest course of action.
Sutton told Sky Sports: ‘I think short-term that would be the safest move from Celtic to do that (bring O’Neill back) and bring Shaun Maloney back.
‘In the short-term, it’s just about winning games and winning the Premiership. Martin did brilliantly in a short space of time.
Celtic’s head of football operations Paul Tisdale has also paid the price for the club’s failures
‘I think he’s on record as saying the club needs to add in January. That would seem to be the safest and most sensible option.
‘I am all for long-term planning at football clubs but in the short-term Celtic have to think about their here and now — winning the Premiership and trying to get back into the Champions League next season.’
Sutton also gave a withering verdict on Tisdale, adding: ‘The self-proclaimed doctor, Dr Dolittle I think he was at Celtic. Nobody knew what he was actually doing at the club.
‘By all accounts it was him who had a large say in bringing Wilfried Nancy in, if he was in charge of recruitment over the summer that was particularly poor so I think it’s the right decision for him to part ways.’
Furious fans protested against the board outside Celtic Park after the derby defeat last weekend.
Nancy became the first Celtic manager to lose his opening two games when he lost to Hearts and Roma and oversaw the club’s worst run since 1978 when they went down to St Mirren in the League Cup final and then Dundee United.
The Frenchman came under serious criticism for his decision to immediately implement his preferred formation, but he never backed down other than from some minor tweaks.
After back-to-back wins, Celtic were well beaten by Motherwell before their second-half collapse against Rangers.
Nancy got off to a rough start with a tactics board in defeat to Hearts and things only got worse
Nancy pleaded for time ahead of the derby and claimed afterwards the team were ‘really close to things turning around’.
However, there was little evidence his Celtic players were getting to grips with his system, which was based on a three-man defence, wing-backs and two advanced central midfielders supporting a lone striker.
Celtic shipped 18 goals in eight games, one more than they had conceded during the opening 24 games of the season.
Tisdale’s departure will also be welcomed by supporters. The former Exeter and MK Dons manager was appointed in October 2024 after a spell working as a consultant.
However, the two transfer windows he oversaw resulted in a clear downgrading of quality throughout the squad.
