When boss came back all I could think about was the UEFA Cup Final..but I'm too scared to ask all my questions just now!

LUKE MCCOWAN felt like he was in a magical time machine when Martin O'Neill walked back into Celtic.

- CRAIG SWAN

But while bombarded with questions from his dad about the boss, the midfielder reckons he's been too scared himself to ask the gaffer about old glory days including the run to Seville.

McCowan reckons he could be travelling through three decades of Parkhead folklore when he steps into Lennoxtown.

At his side in the dressing room, he's got stars of the Ange Postecoglou and Brendan Rodgers winning teams of the 2020s such as Jota, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Daizen Maeda.

Beside them are club heroes Kieran Tierney, Callum McGregor and James Forrest who have been collecting medals since the 2010s under managers such as Neil Lennon and 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 charges from those days at his side in Shaun Maloney.

McCowan may not have started school when the boss took charge the first time but he knew all about his hero status and subsequent exploits.

O'Neill's Treble win in season one was just a third in Celtic's history and it was the same number chalked up in terms of Euro finals when he led famed charges such as Henrik Larsson to the Seville showpiece of the 2003 UEFA Cup Final. McCowan gave an insight into what he felt when the iconic Parkhead boss returned and said: "I thought I was in a time machine.

"It's kind of been like that, even Jota coming back as well and Kieran coming back. You're kind of like, 'What the heck's going on here?'.