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When Dundee visit Celtic on Wednesday, Martin O’Neill now considers there to be a “strong possibility” that he will still be in charge.

Hearts, the Scottish Premiership’s frenzied competition, will face them on Sunday. Then, the Europa League champions Roma. Both places are in Glasgow’s east end. In two weeks, the League Cup final against St Mirren will follow.

Could Celtic be better-served to leave the 73-year-old Northern Irishman in charge for a little while longer as the drawn-out process of making Wilfried Nancy the full-time replacement for Brendan Rodgers drags on?

O’Neill now has six victories in his seven games following Sunday’s victory over Hibernian. The Celtic players appear to have revived. His name is being chanted by the fans.

He is undoubtedly looking forward to joining it, but he thinks there will be one more “final” game before returning to his retirement.

The figures are impressive. Seven games and six victories. Conceived six and scored 18.

Only two of those games were played at home, with a previously incompetent and misfiring team scoring eight goals ahead of Falkirk and Kilmarnock.

At Hampden, Rangers faced off in the League Cup semi-final. And two difficult European away matches, one of which gave Feyenoord a landmark victory.

plus two challenging trips to St. Mirren and Hibs, both of which produced priceless away victories.

In his five games as interim manager, O’Neill has a perfect domestic record, and he’ll be hoping to score six when struggling Dundee calls in the middle of the week.

After beating Celtic in Rodgers’ final game in charge, Hearts was eight points clear when he took over.

Under Rodgers, things had come to a standstill. In contrast to their 3-1 defeat at Tynecastle, Celtic were awful in a 2-0 loss at Dens Park.

Dermot Desmond, the board’s largest shareholder, hit the breaking point, according to the board.

O’Neill hasn’t looked back in the club since his previous appearance, which was between 2000 and 2005, has been praised there.

Under the former Republic of Ireland manager, Celtic have fought for goals and creativity in the later stages of Rodgers’ reign.

A chance was given to players who didn’t previously have much of a look-in, like Johnny Kenny, Callum Osmand, and Auston Trusty. Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda, who were once considered shadows of their former selves at the beginning of the season, suddenly appear reborn.

This now resembles the Celtic of a year ago, when Rodgers led the team to its height, putting domestic rivals aside, and presenting itself as a respectable Champions League outfit.

Hearts, the league leader, has admitted that they have lost their “swagger” in recent weeks, but Celtic have since found it.

After the win over Hibs, O’Neill told Sky Sports, “There has been a response.” Some players are “absolutely, really good at playing this game.” They simply lost some self-assurance.

“Half the team couldn’t have known who I was,” said the coach. They assume that this man has quite old hair and gray hair. He is who? Has Father Christmas arrived early? Being around young people has given me new life.

O’Neill effectively confirmed on Sunday that Nancy is Celtic’s agent but that “paperwork” is preventing the transaction.

For the first time, the Frenchman requires a work permit. As do his employees in the backroom. And nothing else can be resolved until their employment terms are confirmed.

O’Neill will continue to lead the team until the final details of all the various contracts are finalized and signed. The earliest time Nancy has been seen would be when Hearts visits next Sunday, as it is currently known.

At Easter Road, O’Neill stated, “I genuinely believed this would be the last game.” Then I receive a call yesterday letting me know there is still a little more paperwork to be completed. There must be some paperwork involved…

“It appears to me that I’ll be able to make it through Wednesday night.”

Former Scotland international James McFadden is content that Celtic are in good hands with O’Neill, despite the surfaced criticism.

McFadden said on Sky Sports, “He’s come in and probably exceeded expectations.” His goal was to stabilize the club and make them better, which is exactly what he did.

He has won numerous games and given outstanding performances. A team can be seen fighting and working together.

long-term? No. That ship has departed.

Short-term ? O’Neill joked later that he had “hid the paperwork” that would allow him to keep playing until the League Cup final, and that it would be lovely to keep it that way.

Numerous Celtic fans who have spoken with BBC Sport Scotland would be willing to stick with O’Neill for at least the next few weeks, according to what Celtic fans have to say.

As one commentator said, would it be better to allow Nancy to take over a team that just won a trophy rather than risk losing a final so soon in his place?

Another option might be for the Frenchman to continue playing on advisory duties given his lack of coaching experience outside of North America.

When asked, he said he wouldn’t be against doing that if the new manager found it unlikely and that he would only do it if it appealed to him.

He told BBC Sport Scotland, “I don’t believe that’s going to happen.”

The new manager needs to “get himself together, stamp his own personality on the team, and get ready for January” to try to improve the squad.

O’Neill will bid Celtic adieu and his reputation as a club legend will be strengthened if he is forced to step back into the football punditocracy. Not that he seems concerned about that…

He said, “Honestly, I’ve never worried about a legacy.” My concern was failing. And that is undoubtedly not what we have done.

Alan: Celtic are facing a full head in the face for the solution to their current issues. Whether or not he scores 73, O’Neill has a lot to offer the team and the club. I believe he should remain in charge until at least the end of the season.

Better O’Neill, Francis, stays until the season’s end. Someone who has never played in the SPFL before needs some time to adjust to what is essentially an amateur league. Time won’t be given by so-called supporters, as we all know.

After Red Bull’s Verstappen won a thrilling Qatar Grand Prix, Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, and Oscar Piastri will square off in Abu Dhabi for the championship championship title.

Verstappen benefited from a McLaren strategy call that swayed in the face of decisions made by every other team during an early safety car.

Verstappen’s track position was sacrificed in the final stages, which ultimately cost the race win for Piastri.

Verstappen, the Dutchman, equaled Norris and Piastri for his seventh win of the year, while Carlos Sainz, the Australian, came in second and the Briton, in fourth place behind Williams.

By passing Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes on the final lap, Norris added an additional two points.

Verstappen, who moved ahead of Piastri by four points heading to Abu Dhabi on December 5th, has a 12-point lead over Verstappen, who will now have to travel there on December 5th.

If Verstappen wins the race on Sunday, Norris must finish at least third at Yas Marina to claim the title.

The following were the highlights of a dramatic race in Qatar:

On lap seven, when Gasly and Hulkenberg converged on the outside of Turn One, the fateful moment for McLaren occurred.

Hulkenberg’s car was left abrasive along the track. The safety car was brought out by that.

The exact 50 laps that were left in the race were crucial to the timing.

Anyone who pitted at the time was forced into a strict strategy with a second stop on lap 32 because Pirelli had set a 25-lap safety limit on the tires.

McLaren made the statement that stopping their drivers would rob them of their strategic options at the end of the race, as McLaren explained.

Everyone else decided to stop and lock in their track position despite knowing that stopping under the safety car saves time as opposed to a standard stop and considering the difficulty of overtaking around the Lusail track and that Pirelli had to force them to do two at the time.

After the fact, Norris later questioned the decision, but it was too late.

When everyone else made the decision to pit, McLaren almost always knew they would be giving Verstappen the lead if the race proceeded without incident until the very end.

They would eventually fall behind Verstappen after their own first stops and eventually regain control of the lead after his final one, but instead would fall behind once more when they stopped for the last time.

That is exactly how the race turned out.

A significant pace advantage would have been available to McLaren if they had installed the soft tires as of lap 10 and had waited until lap 10 for the final product to be changed.

At the time of the call, McLaren had a problem: Norris would have had to be stacked behind his team-mate if they had stopped both cars.

After the Red Bull had already passed him right away, he was already in Verstappen’s path. Additionally, Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes and Williams’ Carlos Sainz would have left him in the middle of at least two other cars.

Piastri persuaded the team that making their second stop earlier would give them more time to chase down the Red Bull in a desperate state of disbelief.

With 15 laps to go until Piastri arrived, he put on hard tyres, but despite reducing Verstappen’s lead to eight seconds by the time, the four-time champion was unafraid.

At the conclusion of the race, Piastri declared, “No words, please.”

In his post-race interview, he continued, “Clearly, we didn’t get it right tonight. There was nothing left over after I completed the best race of my life, driving as fast as I could. Despite my best efforts, it was unsuccessful.

Retrospective, it’s pretty obvious what we should have done, but we’ll talk about it as a team. At the moment, it’s a little difficult to swallow.

Verstappen remarked, “This was a fantastic race for us. As a team, we made the wise decision to box. It was wise. And incredible happy to win this battle and continue to do so.

“It was a little offset because of it all,” said one participant, “but for us, it was a very strong race on a weekend when it was a little tough but we still managed it.”

He referred to McLaren’s strategy as being “an interesting move,” adding that “you still have to keep the tires alive.”

Norris, who had won the race, said: “I had no expectations going into the weekend. I make every effort possible. Today, it wasn’t good enough, but that’s life.

The mistake was made right away, and that was obvious. Doing what we did was more of a gamble than what they did.

Even though second was on offer if McLaren had chosen the right strategy call, Piastri should have won comfortably, but Norris struggled more.

At the time when the McLaren drivers were attempting to create as much of a gap as possible before their final stop, he had a huge moment at the high speed Turn 14 on lap 35, just rescuing a crash.

Verstappen remained in Verstappen’s path until the final stop, fearing he had damaged his floor.

Norris struggled for a long time to pass the Italian, coming in fifth place, behind Sainz and Antonelli.

Till Antonelli ran wide with less than a lap left before Norris could advance.

Sainz led the race well, finishing fourth in the opening laps despite George Russell’s error on the opening lap and losing two spots.

When Sainz was forced to be held for other cars during the safety-car pit-stop scramble, Sainz showed strong pace and benefited from McLaren’s error. He also gained a spot on Antonelli.

Russell moved up to sixth place after Fernando Alonso spun his Aston Martin, leaving Antonelli.

Alonso, who had controlled the midfield pack after the first stops and looked set for sixth before a spin cost him two places, behind Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Russell, appeared to have suffered as a result of the spin.

However, A puncture in Hadjar’s car placed Alonso one of those spots back, and the veteran Spaniard’s seventh place finish in his uncompetitive car.

Top 10

1. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen

2. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri

3. Williams vs. Carlos Sainz

4. McLaren’s Lando Norris

5. (Mercedes) Kimi Antonelli

6. George Russell (Mercedes)

7. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso

8. (Ferrari) Charles Leclerc

9. (Racing Bulls) Liam LAwson

10. Red Bull, Yellow Bull, Yuki Tsunoda

standings for drivers

Since Mason Mount’s full 90 minutes in the Premier League have lasted, it has been a while.

In fact, he was playing for Chelsea against Crystal Palace in January 2023 for a long time.

That is unrelated to Mount’s skill, though.

Ruben Amorim was talking about Mount’s qualities earlier this year despite the England international having been ruled out until April due to a muscle problem, which is how confident in the 26-year-old.

Amorim’s explanation of his decision before kick-off helped him win the Premier League game at Selhurst Park.

He claimed that “Mason Mount is really smart.” He “gives us more possession,” he said. One more player should be close to the box because he is competitive and capable of scoring goals.

The comment showed incredible foresight as Mount secured United’s first victory at Palace since 2020 by firing a 20-yard free-kick into what appeared to be a pre-planned free-kick attempt from skipper Bruno Fernandes.

Nine minutes prior, Jean-Philippe Mateta’s penalty opener was canceled out by Joshua Zirkzee’s first league goal in a year.

“Mason is a great player,” Fernandes claimed on BBC’s Match of the Day.

“His team-mates never had a doubt about his quality,” he said. He occasionally struggled with injuries and goals, but when he gains his fitness, he becomes important.

Prior to this season, Mount had to overcome injuries to maintain the momentum that paid Chelsea £55 million in June 2023.

Between March and March, Mount experienced two significant issues that required him to be hospitalized for three months and a hamstring injury that required him to be hospitalized for three more weeks.

Mount refused to let his head drop during this period of frustration.

He chose not to accept any requests from outside because he was concerned about how they might appear and how people might perceive him.

His personal refrain was, “I want my football to do the talking.”

He kept up his optimism about his rehabilitation by reminding himself that, in his day, he had been playing football at a high level in a way that was appropriate for his age.

He based his successful training habits on those he had established and that he would use to support himself in the struggles he was going through the next 20 years.

However, during his time at United, Mount only played more than 80 minutes of his playing time on the pitch during Palace’s 4-0 defeat at Selhurst Park in May 2024, the only other time he was involved.

Even this season, his longest game was 69 minutes at Fulham on August 24th, with improved fitness.

According to Mount, “I’m feeling good.”

“It was a huge win, but I also had the opportunity to play the entire game.” That is something I haven’t done in a while.

“I’ve been enjoying my football the most lately. When you have days like this in front of the fans, it is all worth it.

Mount made a revelation over the summer that he had spoken with England boss Thomas Tuchel, a result of the pair’s 2021 Champions League victories, and that he still had a chance to make his World Cup team.

Mount finds space by using the game’s “smartness” Amorim discusses while playing one of Amorim’s preferred number 10 roles in the absence of injured pair Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko. His accurate ball striking is also a valuable asset.

Oliver Glasner, Palace manager, criticized the club for not doing enough when it came to recruiting his squad last summer, which helped Mount as a result of the club’s general tiredness.

Amorim’s belief that a comeback was possible was fueled by it, even though the success of coming from behind to win in the league had only happened once before the former Sporting coach’s 12-month tenure.

In the first half, they were struggling so much to get the ball out of the box, which is how I felt. You can feel their movements, said the United boss.

Given their busy schedule and Ismaila Sarr’s injury in the 38th minute, a decrease in Palace’s intensity largely contributed to their lessening threat in the second half against United.

However, Amorim’s men deserve praise for their recuperation.

Zirkzee struggled to make the ball stick during Maxence Lacroix’s intense pressure in the opening period, but the second half saw a sharper turn. He repeatedly ran into the left flank, finding himself separated from his marker, and cleverly introduced team-mates.

With 47% of United’s attacking moves going down their left, it appeared to be intentional.

Mount and Diogo Dalot made a smart left-finger rotation. Dalot was able to receive the ball in space because Mount’s movements into the wide areas made him follow him occasionally.

Palace defender Chris Richards moved up in his position to lessen the amount of time Dalot had on the ball, but this was more of a difficult defensive move than his pre-season debut.

Bryan Mbeumo moving centrally from his right-hand position was also a part of Zirkzee’s increased involvement down the left. In contrast to Zirkzee, who was forced to play center-forward in the first half, he was able to hold the ball up and win fouls more frequently.

Mbeumo won a free kick in his own half to give United a good start in the build-up to their opening goal, which gave them the opportunity to regain possession.

United won another free kick when the game resumed, and Zirkzee’s set-play from the left side of the box was excellent.

After Zirkzee moved to the left touchline and cleverly flicked the ball on for Dalot, who had moved in-field before being fouled, United won the first set-piece goal.

The Prem.

Saracens (22) 29

Malins 2, Gonzalez, and Farrell 3 Drop-goal: Farrell

Bath (17) 36

As Bath moved top of the Prem after Henry Arundell’s late try, Bath won..

The reining champions won 19 unanswered points from the end to move them three points clear of Saracens in six games and sixth.

The hosts held the hosts to a five-point lead at break thanks to two tries from Max Malins and one from Juan Martin Gonzalez, who both scored for Bath.

The visitors took the lead for the first time in the match thanks to Will Butt and Arthur Green’s goals, but Gonzalez’ second saw off a grandstand finish of 29-29.

After a nice pass from Elliot Daly, who was making his first club appearance of the season, Lucio Cinti and Malins combined on the left to give the home side a strong start to the match and took the lead within three minutes.

After a superb pass from Owen Farrell found Ben Earl to break through to set up the try, Bath struggled to get in the game and went 14-0 down.

However, Finn Russell’s penalty was immediately followed up by Arundell, who stepped inside to intercept and sprint home from his own 22 in a split second.

Tom Willis was injured in the 20th minute, and Earl, who had been a flanker, was forced to start Nick Isiekwe.

After Theo Dun had gotten to the line, Malins scored his second when Daly found him in all kinds of space, and Farrell kicked a drop-goal just as the score gave Malins a 22-10 lead.

After Bath had won the penalty, Butt dipped over to the corner after going up the lead for the first time in the match by missing the conversion attempt.

Russell opened the scoring just before the end, with Arundell kick to bring Ben Spencer inside and Green applying the finish to secure their fourth try and bonus point.

Eroni Mawi’s knock-on attempt caused the Saracens to lose, but the hosts were given a penalty for offside against Russell, and Gonzalez eventually dipped over the line after being under constant pressure to get rid of Bath’s 19 unanswered scored.

With less than 20 minutes left, Farrell scored the final score of 29-29 before Bath rolled the dice and immediately placed all seven substitutes.

Replacements: C Bracken, Burke, Hall, Street, Wilson, Isiekwe, Mawi, Mawi, and Hadfield.

Bath: De Glanville, Cokanasiga, Harris, Butt, Arundell, Russell, Spencer, Obano, Dunn, Du Toit, Roux, Ewels, Bayliss, Reid, Green

Replacements: Redpath, Van Wyk, Frost, Van Wyk, Stuart, Molony, Hill, Carr-Smith, Ojomoh, and Frost.