O'Neill staying at Celtic for now… but should it be for even longer?

Martin O'Neill now thinks there is a "strong possibility" he will still be in charge of Celtic when Dundee visit on Wednesday.

Faltering Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts are next up after that on Sunday. Then Roma in the Europa League. Both in the east end of Glasgow. The League Cup final against St Mirren comes next, in two weeks' time.

As the protracted process to make Wilfried Nancy the full-time successor to Brendan Rodgers drags on, might Celtic be better-served leaving the 73-year-old Northern Irishman in charge for a little while longer?

After Sunday's win over Hibernian, O'Neill has six victories in his seven games. The Celtic players look revived. The fans are chanting his name.

He is clearly relishing being back in amongst it but believes he will just have one more 'final' game before disappearing back to his retirement.

But what has changed in his 35 days in charge? What's the hold up with Nancy? And could O'Neill perhaps stick around a little while longer?

The numbers are impressive. Played seven, won six. Scored 18, conceded six.

They look even better when you factor in that only two of those games have been at home - with a previously impotent and misfiring team putting eight goals past Falkirk and Kilmarnock.

There was a League Cup semi-final at Hampden against Rangers. And two tough European away games, one of which resulted in a landmark win at Feyenoord.

Plus two tricky trips to St Mirren and Hibs, both resulting in priceless away victories.

O'Neill has a perfect domestic record in his five games in interim charge and will be fancied to make it six out of six when struggling Dundee come calling in midweek.

Hearts were eight points clear when he took charge, having beating Celtic in Brendan Rodgers' final match in charge.

The gap at the top is now two, with the Edinburgh side having played a game more.

Things had ground to a halt under Rodgers. Celtic were simply awful in a 2-0 defeat at Dens Park and not much better in the 3-1 mauling at Tynecastle.

That proved the final straw for major shareholder Dermot Desmond and the board.

It's been night and day since O'Neill returned to the club where he'd been revered in his previous stint between 2000 and 2005.

Where Celtic had struggled for goals and creativity in the latter stages of the Rodgers era, they've flown in under the former Republic of Ireland manager.

Players who didn't have much of a look-in before, such as Auston Trusty, Callum Osmand and Johnny Kenny, were given a chance. The likes of Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate, a shadow of their former selves early in the season, suddenly look reborn.

This now looks more like the Celtic of a year ago, when Rodgers had the team at the peak of its powers, swatting domestic opposition aside and looking like a very decent Champions League outfit.

While league leaders Hearts have, by their own admission, lost their 'swagger' in recent weeks, Celtic have rediscovered theirs.

"There's been a response," O'Neill told Sky Sports after the win over Hibs. "Some of the players can really, really play this game. They just lost a bit of confidence.

"Half the team wouldn't have known who I was. They're thinking, this gentleman has arrived, quite old, grey hair. Who is he? And has Father Christmas come early? But it's reinvigorated me, being around young people.

"I often thought that, you know, if you can praise the players well, they'll accept a little bit of criticism, even in this day and age."

O'Neill effectively confirmed on Sunday that Nancy is the man Celtic are waiting for but that "paperwork" is holding up the deal.

The Frenchman needs a work permit, for a start. As do his backroom staff. And none of that can be sorted until the terms of their employment are confirmed.

So until the finer points of all the various contracts are signed and sealed, O'Neill will keep taking the team. So, as it stands, the earliest sighting of Nancy would be when Hearts visit next Sunday.

"I genuinely thought this was going to be the last game," O'Neill explained at Easter Road. "Then I get a call yesterday to say that there's a little bit more paperwork to be done. It must be some amount of paperwork...

"It looks as if I'll see it through to Wednesday night."

While the small print is poured over, former Scotland international James McFadden is content Celtic are in perfectly good hands with O'Neill.

"He's come in and probably exceeded expectation," McFadden said on Sky Sports. "His job was to stabilise the club and put them in a better place, and that's the case.

"He's done that brilliantly, winning games, and performances have been great. You can see a team working and fighting for each other.

"You can tell what the fans feel about him. He's a legend and you can see he's enjoying himself."

Long-term? No. That ship has sailed.

Short-term? Probably not, either, although O'Neill did joke afterwards that he had "hidden" the paperwork to allow him to continue in the role and that continuing until the League Cup final "would be lovely".

Listening to the Celtic fans who have been in touch with BBC Sport Scotland, plenty would be minded to stick with O'Neill through the next couple of weeks at least.

As one said, would it not be better to allow Nancy to take over a side who have just won a trophy rather than take over and risk losing a final so early in his tenure?

Given the Frenchman's lack of coaching experience outside North America, another option might be O'Neill sticking around in an advisory capacity.

When asked, he said he wouldn't be averse to that but only if this appealed to the new manager and that he thought it unlikely.

"I don't think that's going to happen," he told BBC Sport Scotland.

"The new manager has got to get himself together and stamp his own personality on the team and prepare himself for January to try to enhance the squad."

Should he disappear back into the football punditocracy, O'Neill will bid Celtic farewell with his reputation as a club legend enhanced. Not that he seems concerned about that...

"Honestly, I've never worried about a legacy," he said. "My worry was failing. And we certainly haven't done that.

"I remember when my father said to me when I was a player: 'If Celtic come for you, you go there'. The second best thing is managing the team. And they've come for me twice."

Stuart: Real shame O'Neill not to be given opportunity to remain in charge until end of the season to see if he could bag the cup and the league (I believe he could). What a fairytale that would be.

Alan: The answer to Celtic's current problems is staring them right in the face. 73 or not, O'Neill clearly has a huge amount to offer the team and the club. I think he should stay as manager until at least the end of the season.

Francis: Better O'Neill stays until the end of the season. Someone with no experience of the SPFL needs time to adjust from what is basically an amateur league. As we all know that time will not be given by so-called supporters.

Gerry: Can we not please just keep O'Neill for the rest of the season?