'Elated, delighted, relieved' - O'Neill on Celtic's thrashing of Hearts With ongoing supporter discontent, a recent tennis ball protest against the major shareholder on a golf course and a veteran manager deciding now is not the time to "wrap things up", as Martin O'Neill put it, you'd be forgiven for scratching your head when examining Celtic's current domestic situation.
They sit four points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership. Five, really, if you factor in a goal difference at present 12 better than nearest challengers Rangers.
All this off the back of a 7-1 demolition of last season's runners-up, Hearts, who - at least until they turned up at Celtic Park - were widely viewed as viable title contenders if there's to be another three-way fight for Scottish football's main prize.
Has normal service been restored in the east end of Glasgow after the wobbles of four significant defeats in their past half-dozen? Not as far as their wily old manager is concerned.
Keen to stress that the road is yet long to the division's ultimate destination, O'Neill was full of smiles after his side's biggest win since he returned last year, but he didn't even accept that such a thrashing of the third-placed side in the division was even a 'statement' victory.
"I'm not really sure about that," O'Neill told BBC Scotland. "We're eight or nine games into the season or whatever it is.