RINSE AND THREEPEAT

O'Neill 3.0 will have to show ruthless side to fix Nancy's mess after charming his way back to power during second spell

- KEITH JACKSON

MARTIN O'NEILL'S shock second coming was supposed to represent Celtic's weirdest ever fever dream moment.

And yet, as it turns out, just five days into January the new year has turned around to 2025 and told it to hold its hallucinogenics.

As a result, the utterly mind bending 33 days of Wilfried Nancy has become the Parkhead club's acid trip. A brief interruption to O'Neill's very own fairytale and one which Celtic's fans will be in a rush to forget.

Back to the Future II began on Monday afternoon when the old man's De Lorean scorched its way back up Kerrydale Street. At this point he should probably consider shortening his first name to Marty.

The question now, however, is what kind of ending this whole car crash of a campaign has in store for Celtic and for O'Neill.

Because O'Neill's third stint in charge is not only 20 years after his first but it may also be very different from his second, even though that interim period was called time on just last month.

Things have changed a great deal in a short space of time since the haplessly accident-prone Nancy took over the wheel on December 6. And O'Neill's approach may have to be altered accordingly.

He's already played the charming, well meaning, just-an-old-man-doing-a-favour-for-a-friend card. And no one bought it the first time around. Yes, he may have clocked up a couple of decades but his mind and competitive edge remain as sharp as they were when he was leading the charge to Seville in 2003.

That makes him dangerous, in particular to Hearts and Rangers. And this time he's locked in to the battle, rather than just observing it for a short while.

We could see a more serious, ruthless side to him as a result as he rolls up his tracksuit sleeves and grapples once more with a season gone wrong.