Martin O’Neill has admitted to being astonished by the possible liquidation of Rangers.
O’Neill’s success at Celtic escalated the debt problem at Ibrox highlighted by the signings of Ronald de Boer and Tore Andre Flo.
A 6-2 derby defeat from Celtic forced David Murray into additional creative borrowing as he splashed out almost £20m on Flo and de Boer.
Despite spending the sort of money that is now unthinkable it was O’Neill’s side that walked off with the 2001 treble and some would argue that Rangers have never been the same since.
Today the former hoops boss gets his first taste of Tyne-Wear passions when he takes Sunderland to St James Park but the speed of Rangers demise hasn’t escaped his notice.
“Like most people I have been really astonished at how a football club of that size, calibre and magnitude can get itself into such difficulty,” O’Neill told Yahoo sports.
“This is obviously not a good sign and it is actually quite sad to see.”
O’Neill won three out of five titles with Celtic, missing out on two more by a single point and goal difference.
The finances of Rangers during that period are now under scrutiny by the SFA amid allegations that the Ibrox side issued players with two contracts which is against all footballing rules.
CLICK HERE for Labour MP accuses Craig Whyte
CLICK HERE for administrator demands £1m/month cuts from Rangers
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Sorry Martin but I hope you picked up your wee ‘white lie’ glasses by mistake or, very unlike you, don’t want to upset either the Govan or the ‘press’ apple-carts. ‘Astonished’? During your tenure you must have been close enough to events to have suspected there were some ‘naughty’ goings on ‘over there’.
As for ‘sad’. Come on Martin, your predecessors, you and most certainly your successors suffered both in reputation and successes, while the players and supporters massively lost out on trophies, because of ‘cheating’, using potentially illegal methods and funding to ‘graft’ success.
If you are truly ‘surprised’ and genuinely ‘sad’, Martin, I am ‘more astonished’ and ‘more sadly’ disappointed in someone I have held in the very highest esteem.
actually, this is right up there with his ‘rangers are the benchmark’ play to the media, while saying the exact opposite in the Celtic dressing room. Marvelous!
Ever the politician. Of course, even Big Jock chose his words carefully most of the time, but MON has a tendency to sound analytical without giving any kind of conclusion or opinion.really worth hearing. Lenny gives it with both barrels – good or bad. I prefer his approach.