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By JOHN MCGARRY Published: 04: 00 AEDT, 16 January 2026 | Updated: 04: 00 AEDT, 16 January 2026 View comments When the wind is blowing hard and the opposition is formidable, there’s an inclination on a dark January night for footballers to seek refuge in an old cliche. That one about narrow wins emanating from uninspiring performances being the mark of champions. It was telling that no-one of a Celtic persuasion felt like trotting it out as they shivered at the Falkirk Stadium on Wednesday. In years gone by, many sides in green and white had a happy knack of getting the job done with little to spare. Every title-winning team has such days. They were occasional occurrences back then. The difference is that they are now the current team’s stock in trade. After 22 league games last season, Brendan Rodgers’ outfit had won 19 matches and only two of those victories had come by a single-goal margin. They had found the back of the net 61 times by that stage and were sitting on 59 points. At the same juncture this time around, with Martin O’Neill back in charge, the team have tasted victory 14 times, with seven of those wins coming by an add goal. The goals tally has dropped to 39 and only 44 points have been accrued. Martin O'Neill has been given food for thought by a Celtic side who narrowly scraped past Falkirk on Wednesday night The Celtic defence look all at sea as Falkirk's Kyrell Wilson reacts to a missed chance Sebastian Tounetki is part of a ridiculous abundance of left-wingers at Parkhead club Amid the relief at winning in midweek through Benjamin Nygren’s goal, there was a realisation that this team are skating on thin ice. O’Neill has been in the game long enough that he won’t need anyone to spell it out to him. If Celtic continue to produce underwhelming displays and invite jeopardy, results inevitably will catch up with them. The Northern Irishman has done a fine job of making the most of what he has. . He won five league games on the spin when he first replaced Rodgers. He’s since extended that run to seven with wins over Dundee United and Falkirk. His record is incomparable with the hapless Wilfried Nancy (two wins from six in the league) but it has still often felt like a struggle. Celtic hardly shone when they won late on at St Mirren. They also squeezed past Hibs and Dundee. They played well against United last weekend, deservedly scoring four goals, but their display against the Bairns felt like a step back. It was only the cast-iron mentality which O’Neill instils, and some fine goalkeeper from Kasper Schmeichel, which ensured more points weren’t spilled. The truth is that this side have largely been scraping by for months. When victories have come, they have rarely been convincing. Celtic had to rely on Benjamin Nygren's goal to secure a precious victory in tight encounter The Parkhead side could easily have dropped points if Kasper Schmeichel had not been in inspired form Falkirk boss John Mc Glynn knew that his side should have taken something from the game Exhibiting so many glaring inadequacies all over the park, their performances are exactly what the hierarchy deserve. This time last year under Rodgers, Celtic were having their ticket stamped to the knockout round of the Champions League, where they would give Bayern Munich a real scare. The scale of the decline across 12 months is staggering and owes nothing to accident. While the sale of Kyogo Furuhashi to Rennes for £10million made sense at the time, the lack of a ready-made replacement was a dereliction of duty from those paid to support the football department. To see the same scenario play out in the summer, with Adam Idah’s departure to Swansea, was simply staggering. It underlined just how dysfunctional the entire operation had become. Sitting on a mountainous pile of money while watching the squad being hollowed out, chief executive Michael Nicholson’s claim that the club aspired to be ‘world class in everything we do’ has felt increasingly risible with each passing week. With Paul Tisdale a key player in what passed for a transfer strategy until he was shown the door, Celtic also punted Nicolas Kuhn to Como for big bucks and failed to sign a direct replacement. Their options on the right flank now stretch to Hyun-jun Yang and 34-year-old James Forrest, with Nygren capable of playing out there if pushed. Julian Araujo was bought to play in a formation that has been dumped now ill-fated Wilfried Nancy has departed the scene Shaun Maloney was grateful for Nygren's contribution on a night when Celtic could easily have dropped points Finn Yeats shoots wide of the Celtic goal under pressure from Araujo and Austin Trusty With Daizen Maeda, Michel-Ange Balikwisha, Seb Tounekti and - when he returns from long-term injury - Jota on the books, they have four players vying for the same position on the left. They have no centre forward who is fit and up to the task, yet have a ridiculous over-abundance of left-wingers. As far as squad management goes, it’s just brainless. No wonder there’s no faith in those who are supposedly running the show. For the longest time, the recruitment issue has run deeper than an inability to replace those who depart with players of the same or better pedigree. Celtic hang on to players for far too long. Maeda and Reo Hatate joined four years ago this month under Ange Postecoglou. They have both been excellent signings, but the arrangement ceased to be mutually beneficial a long time ago. Hatate had solid interest from Udinese last summer. Wolfsburg wanted Maeda. Both were prevented from leaving because Celtic didn’t have replacements lined up. By not getting in front of the situation and freshening the team up with an infusion of quality, the club now have two players on their hands who would rather not be there. The lack of joined-up thinking is summed up by Julian Araujo, the on-loan Bournemouth defender, who is the only January arrival so far. The Mexican international had never played wing-back in his life when he was signed a few days before Nancy and his ill-suited 3-4-3 were shown the door. Araujo actually looks fine while deployed at right-back in a back-four under O’Neill. He should do. That’s his natural position. He only fits in now because Celtic fired the man who was in charge when they signed him. Kieran Tierney tries to get to grips with Falkirk's Filip Lissah during Celtic's 1-0 victory O'Neill must know that Celtic could lose their title if new recruits don't arrive in January O'Neill and assistant Maloney look concerned during Celtic's narrow victory in Falkirk While it’s plausible that Celtic can yet get required deals over the line, you can understand why there’s growing concern that they might not. They failed a year ago in that regard, and they failed in the summer. Who’s to say they won’t fail again? January is a difficult month to recruit, we are repeatedly told. That may well be true. But it hasn’t prevented Hearts from signing Jordi Altena and Islam Chesnokov, with Rogers Mato and Josh Mc Pake also eventually on their way to Tynecastle. Rangers have already snapped up Tochi Chukwuani and Tuur Rommens. Wolfsburg winger Andreas Skov Olsen is set to be next man in the door on a loan deal with an option to buy. While Celtic’s title rivals are pushing the boat out early to bring in the quality they feel can get them over the line in the title race, the Parkhead club look like they are aimlessly drifting as the cut-off point draws ever nearer. Much can change in the next fortnight and, from the champions’ perspective, it’s going to have to. As things stand, even with O’Neill back at the helm, this team are not winning the league.

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