Martin O'Neill now has Celtic sitting within two points of Hearts in the Scottish Premiership title race. It was not easy but the Hoops did manage to get the better of Motherwell this weekend, after Jens Berthel Askou's side conceded a penalty and had a man sent off. 

On the other hand, Hearts seemed to crumble under the pressure of playing after Celtic had won. They went to 11th-placed Kilmarnock and lost 1-0 to allow the Hoops to cut down the gap to just two points. With eight games still to go, there could be plenty more twists and turns left in this title race.

In the long run, Celtic will need to find a manager for themselves. O'Neill is only the interim manager until the end of the season. And although the door to his continuing in the role has not been completely closed yet, at 74 years of age, it is hard to see him becoming the permanent boss.

It is a lot more likely that Celtic will try to find a long-term manager in the summer. In fact, they are being backed to appoint the one O'Neill got the better of this weekend.

Askou has Motherwell playing some brilliant football while working under tight budget constraints. Even this weekend, for large parts, they looked like a better team than Celtic. That deserves a ton of credit and it is easy to see why he has been linked with the Parkhead job.

According to Football Insider, Keith Wyness has even backed Askou to be the one Celtic should be chasing this summer. The former Aberdeen, Aston Villa, and Everton chief executive said: “I think it’s pretty much nailed on. I think he’s going to be the one that Celtic are going to go for.

“It makes a lot more sense than Wilfried Nancy, that’s for sure. And I think there’s some amazing stats that I saw coming out now, that I think this time of the season, for the very first time, there are two clubs that have got better goal differences than the Old Firm.

“And that’s the only thing that’s ever happened before, or at least way back to the 60s before something like that happened. Motherwell are probably playing the best football in the league themselves. Hearts are obviously playing well, but Motherwell are playing incredibly well. The manager there has got a lot of kudos for that.”

Of course, there would be some risk involved in hiring Askou as well. Would he be able to deal with the jump that comes with going from Motherwell to Celtic?

At Motherwell, Askou is exceeding expectations. At Celtic, it would be viewed as the least he could do. Not every manager can deal with that pressure. Just look at how things turned out for Wilfried Nancy at Parkhead. He was widely considered one of the best managers in the MLS but could only manage two wins in eight games for the Hoops before being sacked, lasting only 33 days in the job.

Other names like Robbie Keane, Craig Bellamy and Roberto Martinez have also been suggested as potential candidates to replace O'Neill as Celtic manager in the summer. With a few months still left in the season, it would not come as a surprise if several other names pop up between now and then.

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