MEET THE NEW BOSS ...SAME AS OLD BOSS

McNamara says O'Neill still bubbles with passion for Hoops

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JACKIE McNAMARA could see it in his old gaffer's face.

Time may have mellowed Martin O'Neill to an extent.

But when Celtic decide to throw a wobbler - like they did in the 2-0 defeat at Tannadice last month - the passion, anger and frustration bubbles back to the surface, just like in the Northern Irishman’s Parkhead pomp two decades ago.

McNamara was part of the Hoops dressing-room that could be clamped by a mere glance from O'Neill.

Huge characters such as Chris Sutton, Bobo Balde and Neil Lennon knew when to zip it and listen.

And McNamara is sure that same dressing-room authority is the key to this Celtic side somehow staying in the fight for a fifth title in a row.

Despite their troubles on and off the park the Hoops are still chasing a league and Scottish Cup double.

And with the support of assistants Shaun Maloney, Mark Fotheringham and Stephen McManus, McNamara wouldn't put it past 74-year-old O'Neill to drag them out of the doldrums and onto the podiums when the prizes are handed out in May.

More than that, hed love to see the veteran stay on at Parkhead beyond the end of the season in some capacity too.

When it was put to him that age may have calmed his old manager, McNamara said: “He'll be slightly different. You have to be with certain things now.