Celtic's 37 days of Martin O'Neill: the player reaction, 'he's a lad' and plan to wave until midnight

This has been a long goodbye. By close of play, O’Neill will have held the Parkhead fort for 37 days. When the 73-year-old sensationally rocked up as babysitter for an ailing Celtic team at the end of October, he suggested it could be a very short-term affair.

His efforts in the dugout and on the training pitch have given Celtic’s board time to breathe. The manager-in-waiting is Wilfried Nancy. The Frenchman was supposed to be making his bow against Dundee but paperwork issues have got in the way. In a way, it’s worked out well. O’Neill can say farewell to his adoring public at a sold-out Celtic Park rather than in front of a thousand away fans at Easter Road.

That 2-1 triumph over Hibs made it seven wins out of eight in all competitions. O’Neill has revived Celtic, to the point where some are asking if he should be given even longer to weave his magic.

“You'll be really pleased to hear this,” O’Neill continued on his final match in typical self-deprecating fashion on his impending departure. “And I'm semi-pleased myself! It's not a problem to me. Genuinely not a problem to me. And if you're saying to me, 'would you be missing a cup final?' It doesn't really bother me, honestly.

"And I know you might look at me as if, well, he's not really telling the truth there. It doesn't. The reason being, I was given a remit to come in here. It was either you could be here two weeks, you could be here two months.

"They had things in place and that was my job. I'd never even looked at what the games were anyway. And so it really does not bother me. The minute you use the word 'really', you might think, well, he does mean it. I don't. I really don't."

Celtic award pleases O’Neill

Celtic have rediscovered some of their swagger since O’Neill came in. He has bred confidence throughout Lennoxtown. There are smiles on everyone’s faces. His personality has been infectious. One slightly fears for Dundee, with the Celtic players no doubt keen to give the Northern Irishman a proper send-off. He was named November’s manager of the month - the tenth such award across two spells in Glasgow. “I have got to tell you, I am really pleased, I am,” he smiled. “I am thankful if it was voted for, I really am.”

There is also revenge on the mind. Celtic lost 2-0 to Dundee in mid-October. It was the last match they failed to score a goal in.

O’Neill has tried to play down the sentimentality of it all. Will he soak it all up, given it is more than likely his last game on the sidelines in a glittering managerial career and his family plan to attend? “Certainly not before the game,” he fired back. “I have only one thing on my mind, to try and beat Dundee. They beat us a number of weeks ago. They had a great result at the weekend and they’ll be flying. So that is the only thing I am thinking about.”

What about afterwards? “It will depend on the result. If we win I’ll be waving until midnight. Yeah, they’ll be putting the lights out. But we have to win the game.”

O’Neill is right; Celtic do have to win the game against Dundee. The gap between them and leaders Hearts has been whittled down to just two points. The duo meet on Sunday, Nancy’s first match in charge. O’Neill wants to leave the club in the best shape possible for the new boss.

O’Neill has spoken fondly of the squad that he inherited. “The little Uruguayan, he’s a lad,” was a lovely line from him on impressive left-back Marcelo Saracchi. The 3-1 Europa League defeat by Midtjylland was a sobering reminder of Celtic’s recent fall from grace but it is so far the only blot on the copybook. They have responded to his cajoling and the coaching of assistant Shaun Maloney, whose part in all of this cannot be underplayed.

“You don't really know players until you're working with them,” explained O’Neill. “But the best way for me to have picked it up is in the training field. Somebody does something, I think, well, that's nice.

"For instance, [Hyun-jun] Yang's come in and he definitely has ability. I think confidence was a bit low, like everything else. And then sometimes if you're a wide player and you don't beat players immediately, maybe you lose it twice - I know this from playing wide right - the next thing you do is you'll just lay it back.

A message for Nancy and board

"It takes brave players, but if you encourage the player to keep going and try and beat the players... I'm talking about in the final third. I don't want them to start dribbling outside my own box, which you might have a habit of doing!

“But overall, come on, encourage players to go and do it. Give them their will to go and do it and express themselves, particularly creative players.”

But there was a message to Nancy - and perhaps the board - when asked if he has seen enough from the squad to suggest they can kick on to achieve their goals this season. "I think with the injuries that they've sustained, the injuries to big players as well which we've not had at their disposal for us, then I think that obviously recruitment in January to supplement the squad would be pretty important," added O’Neill.

A lot of building work to be done at Celtic. O’Neill plans to lay one last foundation.