By GRAHAM SPIERS

Published: 16:54, 31 October 2025 | Updated: 16:54, 31 October 2025

Heavily cushioned in his plush Glasgow hotel, Martin O’Neill didn’t sleep on Tuesday night.

‘Not a wink,’ he told me about the night before he led Celtic out once more to face Falkirk and complete his near-miraculous comeback as interim manager.

‘There I was, 24 hours earlier, having a coffee near the King’s Road in London, and suddenly I’m back in the Celtic dugout. And the team is facing Falkirk. I’m suddenly thinking: “What if we lose? What if we play poorly? This won’t look good”. I don’t mind telling you, I didn’t get a jot of sleep over it.’

O’Neill, 73, needn’t have worried. The next evening his team thumped their opponents 4-0, playing a type of exciting, gung-ho, forward-thrusting football not seen at Celtic Park in years. They even put high crosses into the box. O’Neill had scarcely met the team but made his instructions plain.

‘I just said to them: “Go and attack, get the ball, do something with it, make things happen”. I actually...