What could full season of O'Neill at Celtic look like?

Celtic were about 10 minutes away from losing their Scottish Premiership crown. What that would have meant for Martin O'Neill's future is unclear.

Instead, a late winner from Daizen Maeda and a chaotic title-sealing goal from Callum Osmand claimed the trophy they have dominated in an unforgettable final-day decider against Hearts.

A Scottish Cup triumph followed the next weekend, before O'Neill was confirmed as permanent boss after a tumultuous season in which the 74-year-old had two interim stints at the club where he holds legendary status.

Despite a memorable end to the campaign, a lack of transfer business was again threatening to become the story of another summer at Celtic.

However, the arrival of striker Kasper Hogh for a club-record fee, coupled with a positive pre-season for fellow new attacker Camilo Duran, has somewhat eased the restlessness within the fanbase.

O'Neill has vowed to "drive forward together" and "not rest on past success", so what could a full season with the Northern Irishman at the helm look like?

The 82 points Celtic finished with last term was the lowest for a champion across a full Premiership season since Celtic themselves hit the same tally in an uncompetitive 2017-18 campaign at the summit.

O'Neill's side were responsible for 59 of those points across 23 league games in charge over his two spells.

That averages out at about 2.6 points per game. Spread that over a 38-game season and you get a staggering final tally of 99, which resembles O'Neill's league-winning totals in the early 2000s.

Across his full seasons in charge in his first spell two decades ago, he recorded tallies of 97, 103, 97, 98 and 92, winning the title in three of those campaigns.

He also went unbeaten in cup competitions last term, taking the team to a League Cup final, which they lost under Wilfried Nancy, before winning the Scottish Cup in his second interim stint.

Had Celtic opted against hiring Nancy and kept O'Neill in charge for the remainder of the 2025-26 season, it is very possible they would have finished the campaign with another domestic treble and a greater cushion at the top of the league table.

Given the desperate state of Celtic's season in January, O'Neill's return after Nancy's exit was a case of getting by and staying in touch with the leaders.

Results took priority as the team attempted to string wins together to claw back the deficit at the summit.

However, after a full pre-season, fans will be expecting more in terms of performance level.

Shaun Maloney, Mark Fotheringham and Stephen McManus will again form part of O'Neill's backroom staff.

O'Neill is not one to do much on-field training and trusts his coaches to handle many of those duties, but he has stressed he wants his team to be flexible, and has hinted at deploying Kogh and Duran together up front in a departure from Celtic's favoured 4-3-3 formation.

Former Hertha Berlin assistant Fotheringham is inspired by high-intensity German football, while ex-Hibernian manager Maloney is known to be something of a football purist.

It will be intriguing to see how that dynamic works after a summer's worth of work, while the addition of set-piece specialist Ross Grant from Hearts highlights how Celtic are looking to place greater emphasis on their dead-ball output.

Despite ending the season with a league and cup double, the concern for Celtic fans was that an ultimately successful campaign would mean the club's decision-makers learn nothing from the reasons that made the year a rollercoaster.

Recruitment has regularly been scrutinised, with the past two transfer windows unconvincing at best.

Kieran Tierney and Benjamin Nygren represent the only two players among 17 incomings across the past 12 months who will go into next season as recognised starters.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain penned an extension after playing a part in the second half of last term before the arrival of Duran from Qarabag.

The exit of Daizen Maeda, last season's title hero, following confirmation that Kelechi Iheanacho and Marcelo Saracchi would not be returning to Parkhead, cranked up the fury among the fanbase.

But do the arrivals of Duran and Hogh point towards a quality-over-quantity approach?

The attacking pair have come with a reported combined cost of about £15m and arrive with Champions League pedigree.

Duran has impressed in pre-season after scoring five of his 15 goals for Qarabag last term in Uefa's premier club competition. Hogh netted the same number in the same tournament as Bodo/Glimt defied the odds to reach the last 16.

Little business had been done by the time Celtic were dumped out of Champions League qualifying by Kairat Almaty last year, setting the tone for Brendan Rodgers' ugly exit.

Principal shareholder Dermot Desmond has insisted the club would ensure they are well prepared for the upcoming season. That was echoed by interim chairman Brian Wilson and chief executive Michael Nicholson.

Fans are yet to be totally convinced by that given only two new faces have been recruited, but both arrive with CVs showing they can deliver at the highest level.

It is imperative that the board deliver on their promise after mounting unrest between fans and club threatened to somewhat derail last season.

It also cannot be taken for granted that O'Neill has now shown he can lead Celtic to honours with a squad light on both numbers and quality. He too will be demanding that the squad is strengthened.

Failure to do so would only risk a repeat of last year's humiliation against Kairat and, therefore, their place at Europe's top table.

It was Europa League football for Celtic last term, with elimination to Stuttgart in the first knockout round after a 4-1 home defeat was followed by a 1-0 win in Germany.

Although it counted for nothing in terms of progression, that away victory in Stuttgart reaffirmed O'Neill's European credentials - as did an earlier win at Feyenoord and a draw at Bologna with 10 men.

However, the tracksuit-wearing veteran will want to be doing his dugout air jumps in Uefa's premier club competition this season.

No Champions League money for a second campaign running could severely impact summer spending towards the end of the window.

Plus, with Maeda gone and Arne Engels linked with a move away, the lure of top-level European football can prove crucial in persuading star players to stay.

It has been more than 20 years since O'Neill managed a Champions League match, or even a qualifier. A two-time European Cup winner with Nottingham Forest, his record as a manager in the competition stands at six wins from 18 matches.

In three qualification attempts for the Champions League, he has been successful twice. There was also a Uefa Cup final appearance in 2003 and he made it to the quarters the following year.

A two-legged play-off, set for 18-19 August and 25-26 August, stands between an older and wiser O'Neill and a return to the pinnacle of club football, where he could flex that European pedigree.

Before then, an intriguing Premiership defence starts with a Monday night encounter at home to Dundee on 3 August and a trip to Kilmarnock the following Sunday.