{"id":905970,"date":"2026-04-20T03:06:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T03:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/905970\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T03:06:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T03:06:21","slug":"i-give-celtic-a-zero-per-cent-chance-of-winning-the-title-based-on-an-utterly-brutal-observation-hugh-keevins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/905970\/","title":{"rendered":"I give Celtic a zero per cent chance of winning the title based on an utterly brutal observation \u2013 Hugh Keevins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shug is questioning whether even Martin O’Neill can believe given he’s not looking beyond Scottish Cup semi-final with St Mirren\"dailyrecord\"<\/p>\n

06:00, 19 Apr 2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Celtic players appear to have a meeting on the pitch at full-time<\/p>\n

I give Celtic <\/a>zero per cent chance of winning the Premiership title \u2013 and I base that opinion on one, simple observation.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re not very good.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t begin to come under the heading of being in any way controversial.<\/p>\n

I listened to Martin O\u2019Neill<\/a> in his pre-Scottish Cup press conference on Friday afternoon, when he was asked if he had been dreaming about one last return to Hampden on May 23 for the final.<\/p>\n

His reply was: \u201cWe\u2019re not good enough to dream that far down the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

His words. Not mine.<\/p>\n

If the manager can\u2019t allow himself to think beyond St Mirren today then what does that say about five league games from now?<\/p>\n

My suspicion is O\u2019Neill\u2019s side will drop more points than they\u2019ll win in the five post-split fixtures, beginning with Falkirk at home next Saturday.<\/p>\n

All of which means today\u2019s Scottish Cup<\/a> semi-final tie with Saints must be won to keep alive the hope this season doesn\u2019t end without a trophy.<\/p>\n

In my line of work, I don\u2019t believe in constructing an opinion with the deliberate intention of avoiding confrontation.<\/p>\n

Both barrels. At all times. That is my philosophy.<\/p>\n

I listen to radio callers who, night after night, correctly say Celtic are \u201ctepid,\u201d or \u201cscraping by\u201d.<\/p>\n

The problems arise, though, when a pundit like me says the same thing. For some reason, if I voice dismay and disbelief out loud it is unacceptable. Too bad.<\/p>\n

My old pal Frank McAvennie has described Celtic as \u201cboring,\u201d which, to be fair, is borderline complimentary for Macca.<\/p>\n

They are in dire straits, if the truth be told, and the remainder of the season is about salvaging pride and not descending into farce.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Celtic will be facing the music at Hampden today.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Green Brigade at Celtic Park(Image: SNS Group)<\/p>\n

The return of the Green Brigade last weekend was supposed to be about restoring harmony inside the ground when Celtic played St Mirren in the Premiership.<\/p>\n

The crowd and the team singing from the same hymn sheet after months of cacophonous discord. There was, however, one bum note played after another, interrupted by a solo performance from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, to end the afternoon on a low-key chorus of something passing for contentment.<\/p>\n

But the truth of the matter is the Green Brigade, backed by the Vienna Boys Choir and the Scottish National Orchestra, couldn\u2019t get a tune out of O\u2019Neill\u2019s side at the moment.<\/p>\n

Only the tone deaf would fail to appreciate that fact.<\/p>\n

I suspect O\u2019Neill knows that to be the case as well as he approaches this afternoon\u2019s cup tie at Hampden with what must be serious misgivings.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill said Celtic\u2019s performance last weekend against a side fighting relegation was a \u201cbit worrying\u201d.<\/p>\n

It was a comment based on the team\u2019s low energy levels, lack of creativity and near total absence of threat in front of goal.<\/p>\n

Being breathless, clueless and aimless is not the posture you want to present to the public on the day of a match which might, theoretically, be your last chance of a trophy, if the pursuit of the league title ends up as pear-shaped as I think it will.<\/p>\n

Not when you\u2019re facing the side who have already denied you the Premier Sports Cup last December in what could only have been described as a comprehensive victory.<\/p>\n

The mitigating factor for O\u2019Neill this afternoon is that the cup final loss was suffered at the hands of Wilfried Nancy, who had absolutely no idea of what he was doing. But there will be no absolution for O\u2019Neill today in the event of a repeat performance because fans don\u2019t do sentimentality at times like these.<\/p>\n

They do mood music. If Celtic are on song, then there is, temporarily, no problem.<\/p>\n

If they are unable to carry a tune in a bucket, and St Mirren win, the opinion formers who paid to get into Hampden will abandon all pretence at patience and give full vent to their feelings.<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t be pretty.<\/p>\n

The Hollywood ending to O\u2019Neill\u2019s story would be a cup final win in May that enabled him to head off into the sunset while leaving behind not a dry eye in the house.<\/p>\n

In order for that event to be a forthcoming attraction, Martin can\u2019t have a team who are out on their feet, tired in the minds and useless in front of goal on a Hampden pitch which is much bigger than the one they\u2019re used to playing on at home.<\/p>\n

That would be the Doomsday scenario for an iconic figure who answered an emergency call from a bizarrely run club and has been trying to make sense of idiotic circumstances ever since.<\/p>\n

Elimination from the cup would also mean that, tomorrow morning, there would be no hiding place for anyone in authority at Celtic Park.<\/p>\n

Is there anyone inside the club, for instance, who has the first idea of who will manage Celtic next season or hold any other positions of authority?<\/p>\n

Silence will not be an option if O\u2019Neill can\u2019t strike up the band on the big stage this afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shug is questioning whether even Martin O’Neill can believe given he’s not looking beyond Scottish Cup semi-final with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":905971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7826],"tags":[71298,748,2628,54220,918,4884,38261,79673,11653,712,2630,1638,21841,16,15],"class_list":["post-905970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-glasgow","tag-alex-oxlade-chamberlain","tag-britain","tag-celtic-fc","tag-frank-mcavennie","tag-glasgow","tag-great-britain","tag-hampden-park","tag-martin-oneill","tag-premium","tag-scotland","tag-scottish-cup","tag-scottish-premiership","tag-st-mirren-fc","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116434829040890136","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=905970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/905971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=905970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=905970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=905970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}