The (Glasgow) Herald: August 4, 6 Aug 2001

BYLINE: Hugh Macdonald: The Herald

"When asked by the media if we can win the league, I will say 'no'; disregard it . . . we will win the league. Some of you believe it already and all of you will believe it shortly."

If it's not quite Churchillian, there is more than a hint of General Patton in the words of Martin O'Neill as he marshalled his troops, then believed by the outside world to be demoralised and hopeless, for an assault on the treacherous slopes of the Scottish season.

The attack would end in a treble of stunning victories and is retold with much energy and panache by Ron Mackenna and Carlos Alba in Keep the Faith, a chronicle of a season that proved football is a funny old game - but only the winners see the humour.

Celtic Football Club has distanced itself from the book but it is hard to see why.

It is a rollicking story of a most wonderfully unexpected season told through the eyes of supporters worldwide, journalists, and the players and officials. It contains no malice but has, however, been written with the speed of a Bobby Lennox on amphetamines.

There are enough mistakes to keep the editors busy for a second edition. The misspelling of Jimmy Johnstone, in confusion with his pale Geordie successor Tommy, should earn the copy editor a penance of Lenten proportions.

However, these blemishes should not blind the reader to the considerable attributes of a slickly and quickly told story. Keep the Faith captures the importance of a club which attracts fanaticism from Miami to Maybole. There is an almost evangelical feeling in the fans' testimony to the joy that a winning season can imbue in the most sceptical of souls.

Its most intriguing attribute, however, is the glimpse that it offers inside the inner sanctum of Paradise, and particularly of the unlikely bespectacled Messiah, O'Neill.

It may be hard to remember now but O'Neill's brief, as seen by the fans and presumably the board, was to make Celtic competitive with Rangers. A year on, the Champions League beckons and the Celtic trophy room has exclusive rights on Scottish honours.

Keep the Faith has a mildly amusing episode where Billy Connolly meets O'Neill shrouded in a towel as the Celtic manager exits a post-training shower.

It is almost a motif for the book as the authors offer us a peek at a man who may talk a lot but is careful to show very little of his private self.

Keep the Faith gives an insight into the man and his methods. These seem appropriately simple for a simple game. O'Neill likes big players, particularly at the back, will not countenance a lack of effort and is acutely aware that set-pieces can win games.

"You have to defend from all over the pitch," is an O'Neill mantra.

Little surprise then that Berkovic and Scheidt met with so little favour from the boss. Scheidt was confronted by a suspiciously calm O'Neill at half-time after another lumbering performance by the Brazilian. "We are the same, you and me," offered the manager. "I'm 48 and can do everything you can do."

The workshy Berkovic could have been damned by a reworking of the Celtic squad's favourite comedy, Chewin' The Fat: "Gonnae dae something."

There are other suggestions as to why O'Neill has proved successful. He has a backroom staff in which he trusts. He has a good eye for a player. All his buys have proved from good to inspired, though the jury is out, presumably flapping, on Robert Douglas.

But the authors know that the O'Neill appeal is deeper. He is a man who, crucially, knows the importance of the club but his worth lies deeper than any superficial affection for Celtic.

O'Neill has the ability to inspire. He may look like Jimmy Olsen but in dressing-room situations he comes across as a Superman.

In truth, he is an alchemist turning the infuriating promise of Petta into a tangible threat, awakening the slumbering, lumbering Mjallby into a vibrant, physical presence, and dispelling the doubts and fears of Petrov and replacing them with an almost boyish confidence.

He has thus turned Parkhead into a theatre of dreams. His task now, and he knows it, is to make sure

that this promising production does not run for one season only.