Celtic's Crisis: From Ange's Glory to O'Neill's Struggles

The Celtic support is used to believing. In Martin O'Neill. In the shirt. In the idea that, whatever the crisis, the manager will find a way out.

Right now, that faith is being dragged to its limits.

Four days after being taken apart at Ibrox, Celtic were beaten up again in Europe. Ferencvaros did the damage this time, three more goals shipped, another grim night of slackness and self-harm. The scoreline hurt. The manner of it hurt more.

From Ange’s fury to a pale imitation

This is not the Celtic that once tore through teams under Ange Postecoglou. Back then it was aggression and angles, relentless running, risk and reward. Defenders were dragged into places they hated, the tempo suffocated opponents, the belief crackled.

What O’Neill is serving up now is a ghost of that side. The ball is ponderous, the movement half-hearted. Basic pass-and-move looks like advanced calculus. There’s not enough intensity, not enough work, not enough conviction in anything they do.

At 3-1 down to Ferencvaros, Celtic tried to rouse themselves. Shots from distance, hopeful swings of the boot. Nothing built on coordinated pressing or speed, just isolated efforts from a team that looked like it had forgotten how to attack as a unit.

The result was a familiar kind of European misery. The crowd knew the script. The boos told their own story.

Echoes of Celtic’s worst European nights

For those who have lived through Celtic’s modern low points on the continent, this felt horribly recognisable. Cluj and Copenhagen in 2019 and 2020. Sparta Prague in 2020. The era of Bayo and Bolingoli, Klimala and Ajeti, Duffy and Laxalt. Games that slipped from their grasp through naivety, lethargy and a lack of authority.

Ferencvaros joined that rogues’ gallery. This was all very Legia Warsaw, very Salzburg, very Maribor. Low energy on the pitch, high anger in the stands, and a team that looked utterly short of answers.

O’Neill fronted up afterwards. He spoke about frustration, failure, psychological damage. About how these nights cut deep and test your resolve. He promised Celtic would “get ourselves together” for Rangers on Sunday, but the delivery was flat, the body language weary.

He listed Celtic’s shortcomings. He did not sound like a man brimming with solutions. His words matched his team: leaden, stale, dispiriting.

A manager who once brought order now faces chaos again

O’Neill has earned enormous credit at Celtic. His first spell brought trophies and swagger. His return last season brought something just as vital: order. He walked into chaos and imposed structure, confidence, defiance. On the title run-in, his side were rugged, streetwise, almost impossible to beat.

That resolve feels distant now. In reality it was only months ago. Emotionally, it might as well be another era.

Look at the recent trail of damage. Five goals conceded against LASK. A brutal afternoon at Ibrox. Now this collapse to Ferencvaros. The pattern is hard to ignore.

Celtic actually started reasonably in Budapest. Then they gave away a soft goal. They clawed their way back with a flash of quality, only to slump straight into the same bad habits: safety-first passing, little drive, only a flicker of fire.

The second goal, just before half-time, was the kind that bad teams concede. No bite in the challenge for the loose ball. Weak resistance to the cross. Chaos and confusion in the heart of the box. One phase, three failures.

By the break, Celtic had 62.5% of the ball and trailed 2-1. Possession as empty theatre.

Forwards blunted, leaders adrift

Camilo Duran, preferred through the middle ahead of Kasper Hogh, had eight touches in that opening 45 minutes. Eight. In his favoured role, he offered almost nothing. Only weeks ago he was the bright new thing, buzzing around Glasgow, full of life. Now he looks drained, a shadow.

Hogh’s story is just as troubling. This is a striker who scored against Manchester City (twice), Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, Sporting, Porto, Jagiellonia and Olympiacos (three) for Bodo Glimt. A forward with pedigree, a record of troubling elite defences.

In a Celtic shirt he looks like a different player entirely – awkward, heavy first touch, starved of service, never in the right place. One goal in eight games tells its own tale. An £11m investment, and O’Neill has yet to unlock him.

Even the constant, Callum McGregor, is drifting. The captain, usually Celtic’s metronome and emotional anchor, looks lost in the fog. He admitted the team is “a little bit broken”. It shows.

O’Neill has the experience to repair this. He has done it before, multiple times. But he needs to do it now. And he does not look or sound like a man with a clear plan in his back pocket.

Arzani’s strike twists the knife

The way things are going, you could almost script what came next. Daniel Arzani, the forgotten former Celtic loanee who came and went without leaving a mark, stepped out of the past to punish them.

The counter-attack that led to his goal was a comedy of errors, minus the laughs. Ferencvaros broke, Celtic’s shape disintegrated. There was more organisation in the Keystone Cops.

Colby Donovan had bombed forward and was now sprinting back in vain, chasing shadows. Arzani drifted into acres of space on the left, took his time, picked his spot and whipped a stunning shot into the top corner. Clinical. Effortless. Damning.

The symbolism was brutal: a player Celtic never really used now thriving on their disarray.

A wounded giant heading into Sunday

So where does that leave O’Neill? In need of an extraordinary number of answers in a very short space of time.

Right now his team lack ideas, conviction, composure, physical strength, mental resilience, creativity, ruthlessness and appetite for a fight. Strip away all the detail and that is the charge sheet.

The manager himself looks drained of inspiration. His career is built on comebacks and revivals, on walking into storms and walking out with silverware. You almost expect him to do it again on instinct. But this is a big repair job, and the clock is ticking loudly.

McGregor calls the team “a little bit broken”. Across the city, Rangers will hear that and smell blood. They have already routed Celtic once this week. Now they face them again, this time at Celtic Park, with the champions reeling.

Beware the backlash, they’ll say. Beware the wounded animal. But Rangers know they have a chance to land another heavy blow.

On Sunday, in the noise and heat of Glasgow’s east end, we find out whether this is just a slump – or the start of something far more serious for Martin O’Neill’s Celtic.