Martin O’Neill Fires Back at Journalist’s ‘Real Celtic’ Claim
By Michael Shearer -February 26, 2026
Martin O’Neill pushed back firmly after Celtic’s 1-0 win over Stuttgart when the question of the “real Celtic” was put to him.
Celtic left Germany with pride restored on the night but out of the competition.
Luke McCowan’s early strike set the tone. From there, it was about shape, discipline and hard running. Stuttgart had more of the ball as the game wore on, yet Celtic stayed compact and saw it out.
The focus after full-time turned to consistency. The suggestion was that this level has not appeared often enough this season. O’Neill did not accept that idea.
He pointed to recent matches and argued that the performances have been there, even if results have not always followed. When reporter Connie McGlaughlin raised the issue of whether this was the “real Celtic,” O’Neill challenged the idea directly.
He said: (TNT Sports), “I think that you’re saying about a real Celtic. I mean, we’ve turned up quite a number of times in recent times.
And I think that, for instance, if you just go back to Sunday, we had the majority of the game.
“Well, you’ll have to explain to me what do you mean by consistency? I’ve tried to explain that.
“Right, winning games. Well, that’s what we’ve been doing. We’ve lost two games there recently, one against Stuttgart at home and the other one against Hibs, when I said to you I played really well in the game.
“So I’m really sorry. I’m going to have to disagree with you.”
There was no attempt to dodge the point. O’Neill believes his side have competed in most matches. Against Hibs, a red card changed the game. In the first leg against Stuttgart, mistakes proved costly.
Sunday at Ibrox will test that argument. Celtic will need to control the ball and defend their box with the same focus they showed in Germany.
O’Neill has made his stance clear. He sees consistency in performance. The coming fixtures will decide whether that consistency finally shows in the table