I THOUGHT I HAD TIME TRAVELLED!

O'Neill and Maloney return left McCowan doing a double-take

- BY CRAIG SWAN

O'Neill led Celtic to the 2003 UEFA Cup final

LUKE McCOWAN felt like he had stumbled into a time machine when Martin O'Neill turned up to take the Celtic team.

The midfielder has been too nervous to ask the interim manager about his trophy-laden first stint in charge, even though his dad has been pestering him to get the lowdown.

McCowan now finds himself surrounded by three decades of Parkhead folklore.

There's the stars of the Ange Postecoglou and Brendan Rodgers eras of the 2020s such as Jota, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Daizen Maeda.

There's club heroes Kieran Tierney, Callum McGregor and James Forrest, who have been collecting medals since the 2010s under Neil Lennon, Ronny Deila as well as Rodgers in his first stint.

And leading from the front is the icon of Celtic's 2000s in O'Neill with one of his players from those days at his side in Shaun Maloney.

McCowan may not have started school when the Northern Irishman took charge the first time, but he knew all about his legendary status and subsequent exploits.

O'Neill's treble win in season one was just the third in Celtic's history and it was the same number chalked up in terms of European finals when he steered Henrik Larsson and Co to the 2003 UEFA Cup final in Seville.

McCowan gave an insight into his reaction when O'Neill returned a fortnight ago.