Martin O'Neill makes Rangers admission he never would've as Celtic boss

Martin O'Neill is one of the greatest managers in the history of Celtic. He spent five years managing the Hoops and during a period of time when they had not been nearly as dominant as they are today. Over his time at Parkhead, the Northern Irishman won seven trophies and took the club to the UEFA Cup final before losing to Jose Mourinho's FC Porto, who would go on to win the Champions League the following season.

Of course, O'Neill enjoyed his fair share of success against Rangers. And it was done at a time when most considered the Ibrox club as the premier team in Scottish football.

Rangers had won eleven out of the previous twelve league titles when O'Neill was appointed as Celtic manager. The Hoops find themselves in a very different situation these days, that is for sure.

In recent years, the Rangers have not really challenged Celtic for the Scottish crown. The 2020/21 Premiership win remains their only notable success. But O'Neill believes that the Hoops need their Glasgow rivals to be stronger.

Martin O'Neill makes Rangers admission he never would've as Celtic boss

As reported by 67 Hail Hail, O'Neill said while talking on talkSPORT:

"Even looking at it from a Celtic viewpoint, and hopefully Brendan would agree with this here.

“For Celtic to remain strong. Really, really strong you need a strong Rangers side. I’ve often said that.

“And while I might not have admitted that at the time when I was the manager, it is very, very important for Rangers to be strong so that Celtic keep focused if that’s the case.

“But if you’re running away with it and have Rangers so poor, you would expect, I think, if you thought that Aberdeen are going to be your nearest challengers, with the greatest of respect, then you think over a whole season, then you would do you automatically think that you could win.

“And the odds, at this minute in October time for Celtic to win the league, are ridiculously short."

There is definitely some truth to that. Celtic will always be judged by their success at the domestic level. Of course, winning at the Champions League level is viewed as important as well but the bar is set much lower there than in Scotland.

In Scottish football, Celtic are almost expected to win a treble every season. Just think about that. And if there is no genuine challenge in that pursuit, it is easy for the Hoops to get complacent, which is what happened in the 20/21 season. Of course, that does not mean any fan will want the Rangers to succeed.