STUCK ON REPEAT

Desmond has fallen asleep at the wheel.. club's doing same things again and again which shows leadership has run clean out of ideas and fresh thinkers

- KEITH JACKSON

IT'S head-scratching stuff, you know. A set of circumstances so utterly preposterous that in years from now it may become a casebook study.

But somehow, somewhere along the line, Celtic have managed to drift into some sort of weird time-loop continuum.

Let's call it the Desmond Zone. Like the Twilight Zone but with a twiddly moustache.

Need a new manager? No problem, bring back the old one.

“Yeah but Dad, what do we do when he starts moaning all over again about a chronic lack of ambition in the transfer market, like he did the last time?”

“No sweat Rossco, we'll just sack him, assassinate his character and bring back an even older manager.”

And this practice of rinsing and repeating is reflected all over a club which is now in serious danger of complete and absolute stagnation.

Of course, Martin O'Neill is doing his level best to provide a sense of direction on the pitch at least.

Having been rushed back into the dugout in the wake of the Wilfried Nancy fever dream, the 73-year-old has a full five months to go before signing off for a third and presumably final time.

On Saturday the old fox picked up where he left off back in December by banging round pegs into round holes and overseeing an entirely stress-free 4-0 win over Dundee United.

After a short period of all-out chaos and confusion, in an instant O'Neill has reestablished a much-needed sense of calmness and cohesion.

His very presence in the dugout will ensure that the champions put up a fight for their league crown rather than surrender it in the manner the accident-prone Frenchman had been busy going about his calamitous business.