Martin O’Neill hails Celtic spirit as they stay in Scottish Premiership title hunt

This has been a season of turmoil for a club so accustomed to winning.

Brendan Rodgers walked out in October amid a breakdown in relations with major shareholder Dermot Desmond.

The first call went out to O’Neill to help steady the ship and steady it he did, handing the reins to new manager Wilfried Nancy in early December.

The Frenchman was sacked after just 33 days and eight matches in charge. A tumultuous tenure that threatened to derail Celtic’s season.

Back came O’Neill though and despite some bumps in the road, he has kept them in with a shot of a a 14th title in the past 15 seasons.

The veteran manager has won 13 of his 17 league matches across both spells, losing just two.

One man who knows exactly what it takes to win with Celtic is former captain Scott Brown and he – perhaps unsurprisingly – is backing his former side to reel in both Rangers and Hearts.

“Celtic have the mentality,” he said on Sportsound.

“If they can keep everyone fit and keep up the work rate up, I don’t see why they can’t do it.”

Unlike their title chasing rivals, Celtic have a squad packed with serial winners in the likes of Callum McGregor, Kieran Tierney and Daizen Maeda.

Will that winning mentality, the spirit O’Neill referenced, be the decisive factor in this compelling title race?