Celtic

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There is "every possibility" Jota could make his return from an 18-month lay-off in Celtic's Premiership game at Motherwell on Sunday, says manager Martin O'Neill.

The 27-year-old Portuguese winger, who has been sidelined with a cruciate ligament injury since April last year, played 45 minutes of a bounce game against Falkirk during the international break.

Alistair Johnston is also on the comeback trail, but Celtic will be "careful" with the Canada right-back.

"Jota's been training a wee bit more than Alistair, which is really good," said O'Neill.

"We had a bounce game against Falkirk, which was really good.

"These were non-international players, but at least he got some of that, which was encouraging.

"Alistair is just making his way back, so we just want to be careful with him. And young Callum Osmand is doing the same.

"Jota's been training with us now for quite some considerable time. But that was the first time he'd played what I would call a semi-competitive game."

Defender Cameron Carter-Vickers and winger Yang Hyun-jun, who was suffering with a hamstring injury during South Korea's triumphant Asian Games campaign, were not part of Celtic training on Friday.

"Yang's been out, but I'll see about Cameron," said O'Neill. "He's got a bit of a strain at this minute, but we'll see how he is."

On-loan Chelsea left-back Landon Emenalo, who is yet to make his Celtic debut because of injury, is finally set to join the squad.

"Yeah, I'm hoping to see him," said O'Neill. "With a bit of luck he'll come up tomorrow and he'll start with us next week.

"He's not in the European squad, so he'll hardly be travelling out to Benfica with us, or we might even get some work there. But yeah, that's pleasing again."

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Martin O'Neill has been speaking to the media as Celtic prepare to return to Premiership action away to Motherwell on Sunday (12:00 BST).

Here are the key lines:

• O'Neill criticises the Celtic Fans Collective's protest against the club's major shareholder Dermot Desmond at the Dunhill Links golf tournament last weekend, saying: "I don't agree at all with what happened in St Andrews, I don't agree with that at all. That is not Celtic. We derided Rangers [fans] in the [last season's] game for wearing balaclavas and suddenly we are doing the same thing. This is not Celtic at all."

• The Celtic boss says he was never close to quitting and it "didn't take me long to make my mind" to stay in charge, adding: "As long as the football club wanted me, I was happy to do it."

• With Celtic having lost three games in a row before the international break, O'Neill says "leaving at this particular stage would have been poor".

• The "main driver" for O'Neill staying was his desire to lead the club to the title again and he senses a "great determination" within the squad.

• On the Green Brigade's planned boycott of Scottish Cup matches and home European ties, O'Neill says it is a "really sad situation", adding of the current fan unrest: "All I do know is that when the club were together towards the end of the season, I genuinely felt we were unbeatable."

• The discontent "definitely does" affect the players and O'Neill says: "We have to try and win some football matches in order to get some togetherness again."

• He will "focus strongly" on trying to get Celtic back to winning ways, starting with Sunday's game at "formidable" Motherwell.

• There is "every possibility" Jota could be in the squad at Fir Park as the Portuguese winger has been "training with us now for quite some considerable time" in his recovery from long-term injury.

• Yang Hyun-jun is likely to miss out through injury while Cameron Carter-Vickers "has a bit of a strain". Landon Emenalo is due to begin training next week.

• On the test at Fir Park: "I've seriously never had an easy game ever there. Ever, ever there. I don't see it being any different."

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Jota hasn't kicked a ball for Celtic in almost 18 months - but could he be the catalyst to turn around their season?

The Portuguese winger is stepping up his comeback bid from a long-term ACL injury and played 45 minutes of a training game during the international break.

Jota could be in the frame for a squad place in Sunday's trip Motherwell - where Celtic are attempting to arrest a three-game losing streak - and he can have an important part to play in the remainder of the season, according to former Parkhead midfielder Scott Allan.

Daizen Maeda was the player whose return to form helped drag Celtic to the title last season, and Allan believes Jota can have a similarly transformative effect.

"I think that player could be Jota, I really do," he said on the BBC Scottish football podcast.

"[I've been] hearing from people in the club about how he's trained, how he performed in the bounce game against Falkirk.

"Ultimately he's a really good football player. He's one of the wingers where he doesn't necessarily rely on pace because he's got that good technical ability and what he has shown in the Celtic jersey is he has end product, he's got quality.

"If you give him half a yard, he can put a ball in the box, he can go past guys and he can score a big goal.

"I think if I'm a player in that changing room and you see someone with that quality come back into your squad, he might just be the lift that Celtic need at this moment.

"I'm not saying I expect him to start the game, but I wouldn't be surprised if you see him come on at Fir Park.

"I think the fans and players and Martin O'Neill will be absolutely delighted to have someone of that quality back because Celtic don't have the level of quality that Jota has in other positions that can really go and hurt teams.

"He could be a real catalyst for Celtic going forward now."

Floundering Celtic can ill afford another slip-up at Fir Park as they kick off a testing run of fixtures.

"There's a danger Celtic go into a tailspin if the lose," says Ewan Murray, Scottish football correspondent for The Guardian.

"I think they need a response," he adds. "O'Neill will firmly believe he can turn this around. But they've had such bad results and performances in big games.

"If they go to Motherwell and don't win, I I think there's a serious possibility it starts to go completely haywire from them."

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Pressure returns for both Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic and second-top Rangers after the three-week international break, former Celtic and Hibernian midfielder Scott Allan has suggested.

Rangers narrowed the gap with the reigning champions to two points after their 1-0 win over Martin O'Neill's side last month and Allan recognises why Ibrox counterpart Derek McInnes has been left frustrated by the wait for another game.

"Rangers were definitely off the back of building some huge momentum," he told the BBC Scottish Football Podcast.

"If you're a player in that Rangers dressing room at the start of season, you look at the deficit you had to Celtic so early on, then it just shows you when you build that run of games where you go on a winning streak, how you can close the gap.

"And they've done it with some really good performances against Celtic in the cup and Celtic in the league. The pressure will go on Celtic if Rangers are to overcome Kilmarnock."

Allan suggested McInnes had built a "siege mentality, everybody's against us" and also added some quality players after Rangers' poor start to his tenure.

"That's not to say they're a great brand of football, they're not, but they've found that way - having real athleticism on the team now," he said.

However, Allan thought that, having beaten Celtic twice in quick succession, the pressure was on to prove they have "that consistency" against other teams after the international break.

Then again, if Rangers go top with a win at Rugby Park, the spotlight switches to O'Neill's side away to Motherwell on Sunday "because all eyes are on Celtic at this moment".

Wilfried Nancy insists he "loved" his 33 days in charge of Celtic but believes he should have waited until January to take over rather than December as some players were resistant to his methods having become too comfortable under caretaker manager Martin O'Neill. (La Presse, external)

The chances of Celtic or Rangers reignited their interest in Fares Ghedjemis appear to have ended after the 24-year-old winger signed a contract extension with Frosinone until 2030 after the club promoted to Serie A slapped an £18m price tag on the Algeria international. (Glasgow Times, external)

Celtic have no plans to reignite a move for former Marcelo Saracchi, who left Boca Juniors for Houston Dynamo after his loan in Glasgow, in any upcoming transfer windows, despite the 28-year-old left-back being keen to return. (Football Insider, external)

Read Friday's Scottish Gossip in full.

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Martin O'Neill is hurting from the criticism that has come his way, but it will fuel his desire to spark a Celtic revival.

That's the verdict of O'Neill's former Parkhead skipper Paul Lambert as the champions prepare to return to action on Sunday away to Motherwell.

Manager O'Neill this week affirmed his desire to stay and fight after briefly considering his future following a run of three consecutive defeats - including back-to-back derby losses - before the international break.

"I think he would have been hurt by the level of criticism," Lambert told BBC Scotland. "You can lose three games in a week, but I think it's just the manner, the way it happened.

"I never thought he would leave. I didn't think the club would sack him but he knows he's not immune from criticism.

"I think the decision for him, if he wanted to walk away, would be with himself. But it's good that he's staying on because you know what you're getting.

"I'm pretty sure he won't take what's happened in the last few weeks lying down.

"Knowing the manager, he's not one to go lightly. He'll try and do everything he can to rectify it. And hopefully the team bounce back when they play Motherwell at the weekend."

Lambert insists the players must offer more to get their season back on track.

"They have to step up," he added. "In the two Rangers games and the European game, they looked a little bit flat and jaded.

"But I think the rest might have done them good. Players will have looked at themselves and asked, am I doing enough? I think that's what Celtic need.

"They need the characters to come through and actually start to put markers on teams again.

"You can lose a game and people are coming for you. But they're still at the top of the table, which is good from Celtic's perspective."

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Former captain Scott Brown has called for outspoken Celtic players to stop airing their complaints in public - because there are too many "vultures" waiting to pounce.

After the 1-0 home defeat by Rangers, defender Cameron Carter-Vickers said Celtic's play was "too random" and they lacked "consistency of messaging, consistency of ideas".

That came a few days after captain Callum McGregor said of the 3-1 Europa League loss at home to Ferencvaros: "You can see that it's a little bit broken in how we want to play, it's a bit nervy and awkward at times."

Brown, speaking on The Warm-up Podcast,, external said: "Me personally, I never did that. I had a go once years ago and then I thought, 'I need to rein this in'. There's a time and a place.

"Now football's changed because there's TikTok, Twitter, there's everything, and everyone can go on and say what they want.

"Then when Callum comes out and says something, they jump on the bandwagon yet again. And the 'randomness' and whatever Carter-Vickers was talking about, I don't know if that's shape, if that's the style.

"But I'm not too keen on them always coming out and being too open. We were always told everything stays in-house. The more that you put out there, the more there's vultures that want to jump on top of it.

"Celtic have got good players, but they all need to be on the same page. And they need to not be saying everything in the media every two weeks.

"When I played, I gave absolutely nothing (in interviews). I'd always keep it low key, and that's what we got drilled into us. But now there's too much (coming out).

"Even when it is negative, it should stay in that dressing room.

"I don't like it coming out in public like that. If you have a problem, I would rather you see the manager. And I'm sure Martin (O'Neill) or Shaun (Maloney) would happily speak to him.

"I think Carter-Vickers is a fantastic player, but you don't like to see that bit creeping in because that lets a lot of people change the persona of Celtic to be a negative."

• Celtic lost their last league match 1-0 to Rangers; only once before have they suffered successive league defeats under Martin O'Neill, doing so in May 2001.

• Celtic have won their past six away league games, while the last side to win 7+ in a row on the road in the Scottish Premiership were the Hoops themselves from April to December 2024 (10).

• Motherwell have won just one of their past 34 league matches against Celtic (D5 L28), although that was a 2-0 victory in December last season.

• Celtic have won 11 of their past 12 league visits to Motherwell (L1), scoring 2+ goals in each victory.

• Motherwell have lost their past three league games, their longest losing run since suffering five successive defeats in January/February 2025.

Nick McPheat
BBC Sport Scotland

Are underlying numbers from the start of the Scottish Premiership season suggesting a refreshed approach could be taking hold across the league?

Well, the success stories at Motherwell and Falkirk last season seem to have had an influence.

Dundee United boss Jim Goodwin was humble enough to reveal that Jens Berthel Askou - now head coach at Toulouse in Ligue 1 - has inspired him to change his ways after more than 15 years as a player and manager in Scotland.

Goodwin's side are one of a number of Premiership teams to have undergone a stylistic shift this term, and that is reflected in the league's overall numbers, albeit the sample size remains small after just seven matches for each club.

Compared with the previous five Scottish top-flight seasons, passes per game have soared to 886. That is an increase of 58 on last term. Five years ago, the average was 795.

Passing accuracy is also at a high of 81%, which is quite a remarkable increase on the 73% recorded in 2023-24.

That is down to more short passing. The percentage of long passes across the league (13%) is now at its lowest level of the past five years. Perhaps surprisingly, Hearts and Rangers go long more than any other teams.

Goodwin's United, meanwhile, have gone from average possession of 42% last term to 50% this season. Their accurate passes per match have rocketed from 219 to 320.

It is a similar story for St Mirren under Craig McLeish and Neil McCann's Kilmarnock, while league leaders Celtic and Alfred Johansson's Motherwell are locked at the top of the possession chart on 61%.

The promotion of St Johnstone back into the league, replacing Livingston, has added another side who aim to play a more expansive brand.

The recent appointment of Dutch head coach Marink Reedijk at Hibernian will only enhance that.

Read more: Why early-season data points to Premiership style shift

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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BBC Sport Scotland has been taking a look at away ticket pricing in Scottish football.

It is an issue which has been tackled at the highest level south of the border, with a £30 away ticket cap having been in operation in the Premier League for a decade.

Is anything similar on the agenda north of the border?

While it doesn't appear to be at the moment, we have been canvassing the thoughts of fans across the Premiership.

An adult away supporter attending a Premiership match at Parkhead will pay £37 for category B matches and £40 for category A matches.

There are also some restricted view seats. For example, earlier in the season Falkirk fans had the option of buying those for £34.

The Hoops also offer concessions for over 65s, u16s and u13s which range from £17 to £26.

Celtic fan Paddy Loughran, of The Celtic Exchange Podcast: says: "I would love to see it (an away ticket cap). I think £30 would be a universally accepted guide for all the teams.

"Fans should be in unison in trying to put this argument to the league. I think there should be a bit more of a unity here and making sure we are holding the right people accountable."

Read more: Are SPFL away tickets too expensive?

Former Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna is taking time to consider his next job amid links with Celtic. (National - subscription required, external)

Former Celtic captain Scott Brown says there needs to be unity at the club to help the players on the pitch (Scottish Sun), external.

Read Thursday's Scottish gossip column in full.

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Motherwell manager Alfred Johansson does not "buy" that there's a crisis at Sunday's opponents Celtic.

The reigning Scottish Premiership champions and current leaders travel to Fir Park having lost three games in a row, one each in the League Cup, Europa League and Premiership.

"I find it quite strange when the team that is number one in the table, they lose a couple of games and then it's a crisis," Johansson told Sky Sports. "I don't buy it.

"The team that we'll face on Sunday is so talented. They have so much quality in their team and in their staff so obviously it's going to be a very tough game and we need to make sure that we are the best version that we can be rather than thinking about them, so that's going to be our task.

"We expect the atmosphere to be great. We expect two teams that want to play football on the pitch. Massive, exciting."

Well themselves have lost three in a row and Johansson hopes his side can get their strategy right in order to play with bravery.

"We need to make sure that everyone knows exactly what to do and we need to gel all these new relationships together and they need to understand everyone," he explained.

"We need to be, as a team, intense in the way that we defend, intense in the way that we press, intense in the way that we protect our own box.

"We need to make sure that we play with a lot of movement. We're a mobile team.

"Then we can be brave to play our way with deep runs, with movement between lines and all of that."

Tino
Fan writer

The previous time we heard Martin O'Neill speak, he was openly questioning whether it might be time to walk away.

Yesterday, we heard something very different.

O'Neill said he was "extremely prepared" to lead Celtic forward, the recent run was "certainly not the end of the world", and his period of reflection didn't take him all that much time.

But most importantly, he made his position as Celtic manager abundantly clear:

"I want to lead the club, I want to try and win the league... and I'm as determined now as ever before."

Even if many supporters remain unsure whether O'Neill is still the right man for the job, I think we still needed to hear that.

Uncertainty at the top helps nobody. If the manager is questioning himself, then naturally everyone else starts questioning things too. The players feel it, the supporters feel it, and the noise around the club grows louder.

So hearing O'Neill sound decisive, committed and ready to go again is of some importance.

That confirmation of course doesn't suddenly solve Celtic's problems.

It doesn't fix a midfield that has looked badly out of balance, it doesn't erase those three straight defeats, and it certainly doesn't guarantee everything suddenly clicks into place at Motherwell.

But it does make one thing clear. O'Neill 100% wants to be here. He feels he can make a difference and at least for now we can move on from that recent uncertainty.

His comment about the recent run not being "the end of the world" was interesting. Because as painful as those defeats were, Celtic are still top of the league.

The season hasn't just disappeared because of two losses to Rangers and a poor European result.

There's still plenty to play for. And maybe part of O'Neill's job now is making sure the players don't allow those recent setbacks to become bigger than they need to be.

A bad run's one thing, but allowing that bad run to define everything that follows is another.

So perhaps this was exactly the tone Celtic needed from him. Not denial, not panic - just perspective, certainty and a clear message he still believes he can lead this team where it needs to go.

Of course, words only take you so far. The next part is what happens on the pitch.

Will Celtic look more settled? More confident? More like a team that knows what it is trying to do? We'll find out in a few days' time.

O'Neill has made his decision. Now we'll discover if the Celtic players who walk out at Motherwell on Sunday are equally certain about what comes next.

Tino can be found at The Celtic Exchange, external

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Ex-England striker Emile Heskey believes a loan move to Celtic or Rangers could help fast-track the development of Arsenal teenager Max Dowman. (The Herald - subscription required, external)

Former Liverpool and Leicester City striker Emile Heskey has revealed he was courted by Celtic during Martin O'Neill's first tenure. (Glasgow Times, external)

Kelechi Iheanacho continued his good post-Celtic form by scoring for Nigeria in yesterday's friendly draw with Russia, adding to his 11 goals in eight appearances for Bursaspor. (The Herald - subscription required, external)

Tottenham Hotspur and Hull City are reported to be interested in former Celtic striker Oh Hyeon-gyu but Besiktas would only sell if they received a "very astronomical offer" for the South Korean. (Fotospor - via Glasgow Times, external)

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Martin O'Neill hopes Jota will be like a new signing for Celtic as the Portuguese winger approaches a long-awaited return from injury.

Jota suffered a cruciate ligament injury in April 2025, but featured in a training match against Falkirk during the ongoing international break.

O'Neill also revealed influential right-back Alistair Johnston is nearing a return to full fitness after picking up an injury against Kilmarnock in August.

"Jota did 45 minutes in a bounce game we had against Falkirk last Friday and that was really good," O'Neill said in an interview with CelticTV.

"Alistair Johnston is on the grass, doing some build-up work and that's encouraging.

"We're making progress. The game against Falkirk was very competitive and worthwhile.

"Jota will definitely feel like a new player coming to the club, as far as I'm concerned anyway."

Top of the table. Six wins from seven. The joint most goals scored and joint fewest conceded.

On the face of it, Celtic's Premiership title defence is off to a smooth start - but a storm of discontent continues to hover.

And a look at the numbers behind Celtic's league start - plus a comparison with last term's opening - flags up issues.

Attacking wise, there is reason for positivity. The Martin O'Neill side of 2026-27 has accrued more points, scored more goals and created more chances in their first seven matches than Brendan Rodgers' team of early last season.

However, Celtic's current vulnerabilities at the other end are laid bare by Opta's data. Although Celtic this season have only conceded one more goal (four to three), they have faced almost twice as many shots - 79 compared to 41.

And there's also a chasm of difference in shots on target faced - 29 in contrast to 12 last term.

Celtic's goalkeeper has made 21 saves - last season it was just nine - and kept just three clean sheets, two down on last term, while the team's xG against stands at 7.1 compared to the 4.91 of 12 months ago.

O'Neill's side have conceded seven more corners - 29 - and won possession 301 times compared to 337.

Of course all this isn't merely a defensive problem, with the manager struggling to find the right midfield balance to prevent his team being too easy to play through.

Having gone into the three-week international break on the back of three damaging defeats - two of them to Rangers - in all competitions, O'Neill was left considering whether he still had the stomach for the fight.

He remains in charge and has had plenty to ponder and work on during the hiatus. So will we see a more robust and cohesive Celtic when they resume action against Motherwell on Sunday?

In two trips to Fir Park last season, Celtic lost 2-0 in December and then needed a controversial 99th-minute Kelechi Iheanacho penalty to rescue a crucial 3-2 victory in May during their late surge to the title.

With the Parkhead club facing unrest on and off the pitch, the need for victory in North Lanarkshire is stark.

Tom English
BBC Scotland's chief sports writer

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Stephen Welsh's story starts at Celtic, a product of their academy who turned down overtures from Udinese and Toulouse in his time. He wanted to stay and fight for his place but it was all stop-start.

After making his debut in the spring of 2020, Celtic kept signing centre-halves - Carl Starfelt and Liam Scales, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Yuki Kobayashi, Moritz Jenz and Maik Nawrocki, Gustaf Lagerbielke and Auston Trusty.

He played 70 games in total. It wasn't enough. "It's not easy but at a club like Celtic, they always want to improve, bring in more players because that keeps the competition," Welsh says. "It's football. You're not guaranteed to play even though you want to.

"For your boyhood club, to play every game, would have been the best-case scenario. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. I'm a big boy, I can accept that players are going to play in front of you. That's fair enough."

Challenging years, though. A time for mental fortitude.

"That's probably the thing that people don't see," he remarks. "What you need then is a good support group around you, good family, good friends. My agent was excellent for me. They just need to be there. That's the main thing, just be there.

"Psychologically, it can affect players but I don't think it affected me too much. I never took anything personally. That's just the way it goes. The best players, technically, probably don't [always] get to the top. It's the players that are mentally strong.

"Look at John [McGinn] and Robbo [Andy Robertson]. The mentality that they have. They're obviously fantastic footballers but it's the mental strength as well. To churn out performances every week, to turn up in good shape, to be ready to play tactically, technically, physically and mentally. That's the biggest challenge."

In an effort to get game time, Welsh signed a loan with Mechelen in Belgium before making the move of his life to Motherwell. He says he had one conversation with Jens Berthel Askou and he was hooked.

"Going from Celtic to Motherwell doesn't look the most brilliant move in the world, but…" it made him. "How he coached me on and off the pitch, it was top level," Welsh recalls.

Watch: Welsh on Celtic, Scotland & Askou, external

Celtic manager Martin O'Neill will revert to a back four against Motherwell on Sunday as the back three adopted in their latest Old Firm derby was merely to try to match Rangers' shape in a one-off game. (Football Insider, external)

It will only take a goal to kickstart forward Kasper Hogh's Celtic career, believes former club striker Gary Hooper. (Sun, external)

Sweden team manager Kim Kallstrom has defended their squad workings after Celtic midfielder Benjamin Nygren was one of five players sent home from their camp after a sickness bug. (Herald - subscription required, external)

Nigeria striker Kelechi Iheanacho insists he moved to a tough league after rejecting a new deal with Celtic to join Bursaspor, who are joint top of the Turkish second tier and for whom he has scored 11 goals and provided two assists in just eight matches. (Glasgow Times, external)

Tuesday's Scottish gossip

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Former striker Gary Hooper is convinced manager Martin O'Neill can get Celtic back on track after a "good reset" during the international break.

The Parkhead side went into the extended interval on the back of three straight defeats, with derby losses to Rangers bookending a disappointing night in their Europa League opener against Ferencvaros.

O'Neill said he would consider his future during the three-week break following the league match against their city rivals last time out, but Hooper is backing the 74-year-old to use the time off to his advantage.

Asked if he believes the veteran boss can turn things around, former Celtic forward Hooper said: "Yes, of course. He's been there, he's done it."

Speaking to BBC Scotland, he added: "The international break has probably come at the right time after losing both [derby] games.

"It's a good reset for the team and everyone at the club and they can start again after the international break."