Lubo Moravcik has admitted that Scottish football is very different to his time up against a club that cheated everyone in the country.
The midfielder weaved his magic at Celtic between 1998 and 2002 and left hoops fans with a million memories.
Back in those days Rangers (IL) could recruit players and effectively offer them a gross salary while Moravcik, Henrik Larsson and the rest of the SPL players found half of their salaries handed over to Her Majesty through income tax and national insurance.
With the consequences of that scam hanging over the club Dave Murray bailed out for £1 in 2011- within a year the club was put into liquidation with a £2.8m tax bill from the wee tax case in 2000 still unpaid.
Neil Lennon, Ronny Deila and Brendan Rodgers have been able to take advantage of a level playing field with Celtic now powering towards 7-in-a-row and taking the club forward in the Champions League.
“Without Rangers, it is much easier to get all these victories in the Scottish league,” Moravcik told The Sun.
“It is not the same without Rangers. It was a rivalry but it is not the same. Aberdeen have tried to be close to Celtic these last two or three years but they have not been good enough.
“I don’t know why, whether it is the financial aspects or other things.”
It is most certainly to do with financial aspects, that is why Hamilton and Kilmarnock are unable to afford Scott Brown and Olivier Ntcham.
With a toxic board in place at Ibrox no mainstream bank will touch the tribute act while HMRC watch like a hawk every contract and ensure that all payments are completed on time with no leeway.
If Rodgers could add a Moravcik like figure to his squad Celtic might be even more dominant with HMRC getting their fair share of his salary.
