Celtic

Charlotte Cohen
BBC Sport Scotland

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It Daizen Maeda is nearing the end of his Celtic career, what a way to go out.

The 28-year-old Japan forward, who was denied a move last summer, is entering the final year of his contract and recently spoke of his ambition to play in the English Premier League

And for large parts of this campaign it looked as though Maeda had one foot firmly out the door.

Between matchday one and 22 in the Scottish Premiership, he registered just seven goals - not a great return for your number one striker.

Things went downhill from there. For his next 11 league matches, Maeda failed to register a goal or an assist as Celtic's title chances appeared to dwindle.

But in a resurgence for the ages, Maeda found form at the perfect time.

The spark was rediscovered in the Scottish Cup semi-final win over St Mirren as Maeda charged down a clearance in the opening seconds to end his goal drought.

From there, he was the standout player in Celtic's late charge for the title, scoring in all five post-split fixtures.

First up was the 3-1 win over Falkirk where Maeda was involved in all Celtic's goals, scoring two and setting up Kieran Tierney for the other.

He followed that up with the opener in the 2-1 victory over Hibs at Easter Road.

Even better was to come. With the Old Firm derby on a second-half knife-edge at 1-1, Maeda put Celtic ahead with a typical instinctive finish - then conjured a spectacular overhead kick that is already assured iconic status.

With that win, and Hearts' draw at Motherwell the previous evening, Martin O'Neill's side were a point behind the league leaders with a game to spare.

Maeda would then score the opening goal in a dramatic 3-2 victory at Fir Park that took the title race down to a winner-takes-all clash with Hearts on the final day.

We all know what happened next. Lawrence Shankland put Hearts ahead, Celtic - lackustre in the first half - levelled on the stroke of the interval with an Arne Engels penalty.

With Hearts only needing to draw and with the clock ticking down into the final few minutes, it looked as though the trophy was headed to Tynecastle.

But, with three minutes to play, Maeda adroitly turned in Callum Osmand's low delivery to spark Celtic elation before Osmand's last-gasp goal made sure.

Maeda will likely have at least one last dance in Saturday's Scottish Cup final against Dunfermline but regardless of what happens this weekend, if the Japan international is to depart Celtic this summer, he will leave a hero.

Celtic will wait to see how Oxlade-Chamberlain performs in pre-season before deciding whether to trigger a one-year contract extension for the 32-year-old midfielder. (Football Insider), external

Sporting Lisbon have made a move for 21-year-old Hacken midfielder Silas Andersen, who is likely to command a £6m fee and who has been previously linked with Celtic and Rangers. (Record), external

Rangers centre-half Emmanuel Fernandez received the biggest market value upgrade of any player in the Scottish Premiership this season, with the 24-year-old's valuation soaring by £7.8m to £15.6m, while striker Youssef Chermiti is up £5.2m to £13m and Celtic midfielder Benjamin Nygren up £3.5m to £12.1m. (Transfermarkt), external

Read Thursday's Scottish Gossip in full.

Kheredine Idessane
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

For his next trick, Martin O'Neill proposes to make a league and cup double appear right out of thin air.

He's already halfway there, of course, having nudged Hearts into second place in the Premiership in those final few incredible minutes of that epic winner-takes-all encounter for the ages.

Cruel? Not if you're in any way connected with Celtic. More wins, more points, more goals scored. Further evidence of the Northern Irishman's magic touch.

It first appeared at the end of October when, after successive domestic defeats to Dundee and Hearts, Brendan Rodgers resigned. With a swish of his wand, O'Neill swapped coffee shops on London's King's Road for six wins in a row domestically, including making Rangers disappear from the League Cup at the semi-final stage.

He then left the stage with a flourish while Wilfried Nancy did a magic trick of his own, making Celtic's entire prospects for the season appear to vanish into thin air. Twelve Premiership points from 18 went up in a puff of smoke, leaving the Parkhead side lurching towards irrelevance.

Cue the wizard's return for a second coming. Celtic were six points behind leaders Hearts and level with a resurgent Rangers who'd just scored three unanswered second-half goals in the derby at Parkhead. Crisis time? In breezed O'Neill once again, full of self-effacing charm and very much up for the chase.

And chase he did. Ten matches unbeaten until defeats to Stuttgart and Hibs threatened to ruin his encore. In the 14 subsequent games, the magic only wavered once, at Tannadice.

The spell held firm everywhere else, including trips to Ibrox on league and Scottish Cup duty which resulted in a hard-earned point and safe passage to the semi-finals respectively.

Needing, realistically, to take maximum points from his final seven Premiership matches, 21 were duly collected as Celtic pipped a frazzled Hearts to the finishing line in the most memorable league finish in decades.

Dunfermline will need the performance of their lifetimes to stop this O'Neill-fuelled Celtic juggernaut at Hampden on Saturday.

With supporters, players and potentially several key board members in his thrall, has the wily old magician worked his way into concocting something more permanent from his second interim spell?

After failing to get past the Champions League group phase in the early 2000s with the likes of Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton, Paul Lambert and his Hampden counterpart this Saturday, Neil Lennon, at his disposal, could Martin O'Neill turn down one last crack at the European elite?

Could the blazers at Celtic really send him packing if he fancied trying his luck for one more season?

He'd need a big whack of investment and potentially an entirely new squad. If the wizardry hasn't worn off by the close of play at Hampden on Saturday, however, the clamour to leave the sorcerer to his fiendish work may well prove irresistible.

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Former Celtic midfielder Roy Keane has hailed Martin O'Neill for driving the club from "disarray" to a dramatic title success this season.

When the Northern Irishman returned in January for his second interim spell following a disastrous six league games under Wilfried Nancy, the club were six points behind leaders Hearts.

But the 74-year-old got Celtic ticking again and they ended the Premiership season with a run of seven straight wins, including a final-day decider against Hearts, to snatch a fifth title in a row.

And Keane, who assisted O'Neill during his Republic of Ireland tenure, was impressed not just with the achievement, but the manner of the turnaround.

"He's gone in there working with people he's never worked with," Keane told The Overlap, external.

"Getting them all on side, getting his football points across.

"We go on about managers needing time, he didn't need time. He went into that group of players, got a grip of them, managed upwards with the board and fans and got them winning football matches.

"For a manager to have gone to a club that was in disarray, that's top-level management."

Ex-Arsenal, England and Celtic striker Ian Wright felt that if it wasn't for O'Neill, the title trophy would have had Hearts' name on it.

"If Martin doesn't go in there they don't win that," he added.

"Hearts win that. That's the thing for Hearts, unfortunately he was the one who went in there [as manager]."

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Former Celtic, Hearts and Scotland player Mike Galloway has died at the age of 60.

Galloway joined Hearts from Halifax Town for £60,000 in 1987 and went on to make 86 appearances for the Tynecastle club, scoring 22 goals.

Comfortable in defence or midfield, Galloway helped Hearts to a runners-up finish in the top flight in 1987-88.

He shone the following season in their run to the Uefa Cup quarter-finals - which remains Hearts' best European campaign.

Galloway moved in 1989 to Celtic where he played 160 games, although honours eluded him during a fallow period for the club.

England-born Galloway earned one cap for Scotland, in a 1-0 defeat to Romania in a European qualifier in 1991.

Following a brief loan spell with Leicester City, his playing career ended at Celtic in 1995 following a near-fatal car crash. He later had coaching stints with Tranent Juniors, Wooler, Coldstream, Berwick United and Eyemouth United.

Celtic have no plans to loan out Callum Osmand for the 2026-27 campaign despite an injury-affected first season in Scotland for the 20-year-old forward. (Football Insider), external

Hannover will hold talks with Celtic on the future of Maik Nawrocki after they missed out on promotion to the Bundesliga as the German club are unlikely to be able to afford the £2m to turn the 25-year-old centre-half's loan move into a permanent one. (The National), external

Read the rest of Wednesday's Scottish gossip.

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Celtic striker Callum Osmand feels he has had a decade's worth of learning experiences in a debut season marked by major highs and lows.

The English forward, 20, netted for the club for the first time in November's League Cup semi-final win over Rangers but an injury picked up in his next appearance kept him out until Saturday's dramatic title-clinching victory over Hearts.

Osmand's added-time goal completed Celtic's 3-1 win as they climbed above the long-time leaders on the final day of the season to become champions.

"It's surreal," he said. "It's still not sunk in yet for me, but it's an amazing feeling to be champions. It's pretty much my first year in senior football, so I'm really happy.

"It took me quite a while to actually earn the chance to be able to play. And I feel like it got taken away from me within a week. So I had the best feeling of my life to the worst feeling of my life.

"And then it's been like a grind. The last six months has been, it's been really tough.

"And then it gets me to this point where I'm feeling better than I ever have."

Osmand, who now aims to help Celtic win the Scottish Cup against Dunfermline, added: "I've learned so much about myself and about professional football and about the whole culture and how demanding it is.

"I'm sort of grateful in a way that I've had the season I've had. Obviously I would have changed the injury, but you can't. And I had to learn, take the positives from that, and I feel like it's helped me. It's helped me having these ups and downs as well.

"Obviously I would have liked to be more involved this year but that's out of my hands. But that is the goal for me next year. I'd want to be more involved, get my name out there a bit more and try and make more of an impact.

"It feels like I've had about 10 years in a year of football, but I feel like it does really mature you."

Daizen Maeda scored Celtic's second against Hearts and Osmand is in awe of the Japan forward's work ethic.

"He's just a robot," said Osmand. "I don't know how he does it. I need to get his diet plan or something.

"He's fantastic. I don't think there's a player like him in world football that does what he does. He just offers something completely different.

"His determination is what I really look up to."

Tino
Fan writer

Celtic posted a video on their YouTube channel in the aftermath of Saturday's celebrations titled Champions Day Paradise, and if you haven't seen it yet, it's well worth 20 minutes of your time.

It takes you right inside the day. The players arriving, the build-up, the warm-up, and then into the action itself.

I've always liked that behind-the-scenes kind of access because it gives you a small insight into the different connections between certain players, certain coaches, who clicks with who etc.

As enjoyable as the footage of the goals and the celebrations are, it was something different altogether that stood out most to me.

It's in the moments after the win, as Martin O'Neill calls Marcelo Saracchi forward in the dressing room. A player who - until Saturday - had played a fairly modest part in Celtic's 38-game league campaign.

Calling him a "special guy," O'Neill singles the Uruguayan out for his contribution to the game, much to the delight of the team-mates - but especially the player himself.

Saracchi is one of the smaller players in the Celtic squad, but at that moment he must have felt 10ft tall. And this is what O'Neill does.

We've spoken a lot in recent weeks about his ability to get the very best out of players - sometimes more than they may even believe they're capable of themselves. And that clip is the perfect example of it in action.

A member of our Celtic Exchange community described him recently as 'The Kelechi Whisperer' in terms of his ability to get the very best out of Iheanacho.

But he's also the Saracchi Whisperer, the Daizen Maeda Whisperer and so on…

In a game increasingly driven by data, structure and systems, and at times robot-like players, there's something refreshing about seeing that the human side still matters.

Connection still counts. So too does motivation. So too belief.

And the cliche for a manger is knowing when to put an arm round a player, and knowing when some tough love is required.

It's not an exact science by any stretch, but O'Neill has that skill in abundance. He knows what makes his players tick. And always has done. That's why the conversation around O'Neill's Celtic future shouldn't just be a sentimental one.

It's a strategic one. Because genuine footballing intelligence - real, instinctive, man-management brilliance - is rare.

And when you've got it on your doorstep, you shouldn't let it go lightly.

Tino can be found at The Celtic Exchange, external

Celtic manager Martin O'Neill highlighted the contribution of substitute Marcelo Saracchi in the dressing room following Saturday's Scottish Premiership title-winning victory over Hearts. (Record), external

Dunfermline Athletic can have confidence they can cause an upset in Saturday's Scottish Cup final against Celtic, says Pars forward Chris Kane. (Courier - subscription required), external

Tuesday's Scottish gossip

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It should be Martin O'Neill's decision whether he stays on as Celtic manager, according to the club's former midfielder Paul Lambert.

O'Neill masterminded Celtic's dramatic title triumph - his fourth with the club, 22 years on from his third.

The 74-year-old said after the final-day win over Hearts that there had been no talks regarding his future, but Lambert believes it would be "great" for the club if O'Neill were to stay on.

"When he got the job, I said he was the only manager that could have gone in there and turned it around," Lambert told BBC Radio Scotland.

"That's why I thought it was a brilliant appointment.

"It's the way he is, he gets players to run that extra yard for him

"Is it the greatest Celtic team I've ever seen? No. What I do give the lads credit for is never giving in, even though they weren't performing to their best levels.

"The manager has nothing to prove. His record at the club stands up to anyone. The age thing doesn't wash with me.

"He's a brilliant manager and if Celtic keep him, great. That's if he wants to stay, it's his decision."

Lambert was asked if the lure of making an impression in Europe might be tempting for O'Neill.

A Champions League winner with Borrusia Dortmund in 1997, he replied: "Celtic will need to improve vastly to compete at that level.

"They need to recruit some good players. I'm talking about ready-made guys that can handle Champions League football."

Jonathan Sutherland
Sportscene presenter

Raphael Sallinger - Hibernian

On the losing side, but made five saves.

Tom Sparrow - Motherwell

A midfielder by trade, Sparrow has never let Motherwell down at right back.

Stephen Welsh - Motherwell

On loan from Celtic, Welsh has been a real leader at Fir Park. Played with heart, soul and real quality. Had an effort ruled out for a foul.

Ryan Astley - Dundee

Scored the winning goal to send the Dundee faithful home happy.

Tuur Rommens - Rangers

Won all his duels against Falkirk and looks a good signing by Danny Rohl.

Findlay Curtis - Kilmarnock

Surely has to be in the World Cup squad. Made the previous squad, and since then his form has been electric.

Callum McGregor - Celtic

Much has been made - rightly so - of the impact made by the return of Martin O'Neill in steering Celtic to another title. But in his own way, the captain at the centre of this team has quietly done the steering on the pitch. Since the Dundee United game there has been much more of a steely resolve and intensity when required from Celtic, and McGregor has embodied that mission in the post-split games. His teammates voiced their praise for his leadership on and off the pitch throughout what's been a tumultuous campaign that saw Brendan Rodgers and then Wilfried Nancy depart. Throughout it all McGregor has been the constant. The emotion poured out of him at the end said it all.

Lukas Fadinger - Motherwell

A steely presence all season for Motherwell. His deflected goal was the difference against Hibs.

Nicky Clescenco - Kilmarnock

Took his goal well. Looked lively and creative in the rout of Livingston.

Joe Hugill - Kilmarnock

Two goals against Livingston upped his tally to eight in his past 12 games for Kilmarnock. Has thrived under Neil McCann.

Youssef Chermiti- Rangers

Looked like an absolute world-beater against Falkirk. His goals were superb. Has had his critics, but 15 Premiership goals is a respectable tally. His challenge next season will be to up that tally, and be more consistent.

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Martin O'Neill ultimately overcame his concerns that Celtic could not make up their points deficit to Hearts by winning the Scottish Premiership.

Celtic trailed leaders Hearts by a point before Saturday's meeting of the two sides in Glasgow and won with two late goals to finish as champions.

It was the club's fifth league title in a row and a fourth for O'Neill as Celtic manager.

He returned to the club briefly in the autumn following Brendan Rodgers' departure and was back in January after Wilfried Nancy's reign ended abruptly following six defeats in eight games.

Prior to his first game in charge of Celtic in 2026, O'Neill's side were six points off Hearts.

"I wasn't worried about what had happened 20-odd years ago with Celtic and me as manager," O'Neill said of his first interim spell on TalkSPORT.

"I was worried in case I was just too old to do it and if I failed then people would say, 'well there you are, he's a dinosaur, he doesn't belong in the modern game'.

"Having won the matches that we did do, I kind of felt an alleviation as much as anything. I felt pretty good about it but I knew that was going to be a short spell.

"Second time coming back in January, knowing that I was there till the end of the season, that presented, to me, a lot of more difficulties for me in the sense that I'm no longer an interim, I'm going to be here right till the end of the season and that was worrying because we had dropped a lot of points in that time.

"I was worried in case we couldn't make it up.

"We've finally chased Hearts down, which was terrific and really great to win in exhilarating fashion, which was terrific."

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Celtic's last-day Scottish Premiership title could put "more fear" into opposition clubs, believes former striker Cillian Sheridan.

The defending champions, who lost eight league games and had three different managers this season, trailed Hearts for a long period before finally pipping them to the post with victory in Saturday's dramatic decider at Celtic Park.

"I feel like it's going to put a little bit, maybe more fear into other clubs as well, going forward where they've went and lost eight games, they've had all that turbulence going on, and yet they still managed to come through and win," said Sheridan, who scored four goals in 19 Celtic appearances.

"And the Hearts players who went through it for the first time, might look at that and be like, OK, there is other parts to it. It's not just going out and playing well. There's a lot more to actually winning. That's something that's not a tangible thing that you can see. It's just kind of, I guess, something that's just there and you can build it up over time."

However, Sheridan added of runners-up Hearts: "It's probably going to benefit in the long run once the dust settles and they get over the disappointment of it.

"They'll probably have a little bit more belief that maybe it was there for us, like we could have done it. And then you'd hope from their point of view that it gives them that motivation to go again next season."

More from Sheridan on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast

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Points total

This season's points total of 82 is the lowest in a league-winning season for Celtic since 2017-18, excluding the curtailed campaign of 2019-20.

It is their lowest points total since the 2020-21 season when they finished second but is still higher than their lowest tally in a title-winning season (in the era of three points for a win), which is 74 from the 1997-98 campaign.

League defeats

Eight defeats is the most in a single season for Celtic since 1999-00 when they lost nine games. It is their most defeats in a title-winning season since 1978-79 when they also lost nine games.

Goals scored

It's been no secret that Celtic have been lacking at the top end of the pitch since selling Kyogo Furuhashi in January last year, perhaps typified by the fact that midfielder Benjamin Nygren is their top scorer this season.

In fact, 73 goals in a season is the lowest total for Celtic since the 2017-18 campaign.

Days top/not top

Celtic hadn't been top of the table since 14 September, thanks to a late victory at Kilmarnock.

They slipped to third spot in January and had been jumping between second and third until the split. Since then, they remained in second until their final day victory over Hearts who had been top for 251 days (including Saturday).

xG for and against

It may not come as a surprise that Celtic have underperformed their expected goals (xG) of 80.94 this season. In fact, Celtic have missed 84 big chances this season. For context, runners-up Hearts missed 56. Hearts' expected goals of 58.13 was significantly lower than Celtic's, as was their goals scored (67).

Celtic's xG against was 37.03, slightly lower than Hearts' 40.36, but they conceded seven more (41 vs 34).

Late goals

Late goals have been Celtic's saviour in this title race. Martin O'Neill's side scored six match-winning goals after the 90th minute, with 11 strikes in total.

First, it was Kelechi Iheanacho with a 96th-minute winner against Kilmarnock back in September. Then it was Daizen Maeda's 92nd minute winner against Motherwell in October. Callum McGregor scored a 95th minute goal to beat St Mirren.

January signing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's 91st minute goal against Livingston in February was followed up by another late victory against Kilmarnock courtesy of Julian Araujo in the 97th minute.

The most controversial, but perhaps the most important of all, a converted penalty in the 99th minute to beat Motherwell in the penultimate game of the season.

Who have been Celtic's key performers?

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While it's been an underwhelming campaign for most of Celtic's squad, there have been some players who have made important contributors to the side's title win.

Most goals

Nygren was Celtic's top scorer with16, closely followed by Maeda who found the back of the net 14 times. Crucially though, seven of Maeda's goals have come post-split having failed to score in the previous 12 games.

Most assists

Left-back Kieran Tierney, who returned to the club last summer following the expiration of his Arsenal contract, has set up the most goals for Celtic this season with eight.Fourwere match-winning assists.

Maeda, six,and Nygren, five, are close behind the left-back in the assist charts.

Most tackles

Tierney also made the most tackles (58)of any Celtic player, and won the most too (38). Captain McGregor made the second highest number of tackles (55) but won fewer than winger Yang Hyun-jun who was successful with 32 of 45tackles.

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Celtic boss Martin O'Neill, who is expected to move on after a second interim spell this season, urges the Scottish champions not to waste time over making their next managerial appointment. (Sun), external

Defender Liam Scales says Celtic never lost belief in their Scottish Premiership title defence, despite trailing Hearts for a long spell. (Record), external

Monday's Scottish gossip

Sportscene pundits Darren O'Dea and Ryan Stevenson analyse the importance of "proper captain" Callum McGregor in Celtic's chaotic title-winning campaign.