CUPPA AND A CALL FOR COMEBACK

O'Neill jumped at chance to step up again

- BY MICHAEL GANNON

LAST time out, Martin O'Neill was sitting on the King's Road in London sipping a coffee.

This time he was enjoying a brew in Glasgow's Duke Street.

And each time the name flashed up on his mobile, the Northern Irishman answered the call.

O'Neill might be worrying every time he sticks the kettle on, the way it’s going with Celtic this season.

Yet here he was once more, back at Lennoxtown wearing his famous Copa Mundial boots, this time looking a little less shiny than they were when they were brand new out the box back in October.

A crazy season took another bizarre turn on Monday when O'Neill was summoned by Dermot Desmond for another rescue mission.

The 73-year-old could have been forgiven for blanking the Celtic powerbroker's call.

But that’s not O'Neill's style. Not when it comes to this club.

Instead, the Hoops legend jumped at the chance to step up once more in the hour of need.

O'Neill revealed: “Dermot was to the point. He said, ‘Would you come in?

“If I can give him this time to look at, to the end of the season, for him to look at someone and that be the man that, through thick and thin, is going to lead Celtic on in the next couple of years, that's fine.

“Regardless of the results, youre still a bit surprised.