Celtic Faces Uncertain Future Despite O'Neill's Success in Title Race

Celtic players will take the field against Rangers on Sunday at Celtic Park with the full support of the club behind them.

That backing will last until they clinch the title or drop it for just the second time in 15 years.

Martin O'Neill's leadership has kept Celtic competitive in the Premiership and Scottish Cup, though talk of next season lingers.

Few know who the next manager will be, what the football department will look like or if the boardroom faces will change amid fan discontent.

A run of domestic success faces real risk, fueling arguments among supporters.

In two stints this season, the 74-year-old O'Neill has posted a higher average points per Premiership game than any other manager.

He outperformed expectations after Celtic pulled him from retirement following Brendan Rodgers' bitter exit and then Wilfried Nancy's failed eight-game run.

Some argue Celtic would lead the league by now if O'Neill had started right after Rodgers left.

Has O'Neill earned the job next season? Does it hinge on the Premiership? Should Celtic plan ahead? Does he want to manage at 74 in this pressure cooker?

Those questions remain open beyond Celtic Park.

"I feel a sense of renaissance, coming back and working with young people, it's really, really terrific," O'Neill told talkSPORT on Tuesday when asked about his future. "We'll have to see how we stand at the end of the season, and that's nearly upon us now."

Some fans, grateful to the club legend, still want fresh blood on the bench.

Paul John Dykes of the A Celtic State of Mind podcast said O'Neill "should go and chill out and just enjoy retirement" after this season.

"Martin O'Neill has been dreadfully let down by the Celtic board," Dykes told the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast. "There's no way he came to Celtic in January, one week into a January transfer window, on the promise of four loanees and an out-of-contract player to win the double. No chance. So regardless of what happens, Martin O'Neill's legacy is intact."

Other names in the mix are Robbie Keane at Ferencvaros and Motherwell's Jens Berthel Askou.

Keane, 45, skipped talk of his future beyond this season in recent interviews. The former Republic of Ireland international seeks a second Hungarian league title to add to the one he won in Israel with Maccabi Tel Aviv.

His Celtic knowledge, winning record and European experience appeal.

Askou has impressed at Motherwell. In his first Scottish season, he lifted a team from the bottom half of recent tables to the edge of Europe.

He plays attacking, adaptable, intense football with a range of talents.

"It's a style of football in Scotland I've not seen, probably outside of Ange's [Postecoglou] Celtic," Motherwell midfielder Andy Halliday said on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound. "When you take into account you've got Paul McGinn at 35, playing the best football of his career, Stephen O'Donnell at 34 playing the best football of his career. How many sellable assets has Askou put in Motherwell's team? Clubs will be interested in Tawanada Maswanhise, Elliot Watt, Lukas Fadinger, Emmanuel Longelo and all these players. He's transformed the club financially as well."

Many fans see Celtic as complacent with domestic wins, slow on recruitment shifts and weak in Europe.

Weak transfer windows and a Champions League qualifying miss this season fed the anger.

Interim chairman Brian Wilson said this week the club will launch a "supporter engagement department" to mend ties.

A sporting director with recruitment chops could signal broader shifts.

But will that satisfy fans who want top-level overhaul?

"I was listening to the chairman last week and it was the usual waffle that we get from the Celtic boardroom," John Dykes said on the Scottish Football Podcast. "'We've made mistakes, we're aware of the mistakes, we'll put them right'. You won't, because it's the same people, it's the same heads, same culture."

Not all supporters share that view.

One way or another, with or without a 14th title in 15 years, Celtic must answer these questions from pitch to boardroom this summer.