Ibrox Noise has never really been one for discussing Celtic. Naturally this season has been a little bit different in penultimate stages, whereby Rangers fell entirely out of contention. This was with five or so matches to go before Celtic and Hearts battled it out to take the crown. Therefore, issues involving Hearts and Celtic became a lot more prominent than they normally would. Especially with O’Neill humiliated on radio.
Jim White calls out Martin O’Neill
And of course, at the moment, the big talking point regarding Celtic involves one of Rangers’ very own, Jim White, and his absolute castigation of Celtic manager Martin O’Neill and the old duffer’s comments on TalkSport live over the last 24 hours.
We will all remember quite vividly former Hibernian chairman Rod Petrie suggesting that Hibs fans had just been a little bit ‘exuberant’. Indeed, exuberance became a byword and parody for violence as the Hibs fans charged on the pitch, assaulted Rangers players and completely disgraced and disgusted their own club.
They disgraced themselves to the extreme.
It became something of a legend at the time. Petrie showed his hatred for Rangers by refusing to properly condemn his own fans, especially given what they had done.
O’Neill defends Celtic supporters
Martin O’Neill has more than entirely emulated the ghost of Petrie, who is sadly no longer with us, by suggesting that Celtic fans did absolutely nothing wrong on the pitch at Parkhead and had claimed that claims to the contrary are absolute nonsense.
Now, we do not deny that some pitch invasions can be accepted. As long as no one in any way gets intimidated and the invasion is not excessive.
This did not fulfil those criteria.
Celtic fans completely swarmed this one and attacked opposing players. They intimidated their opponent, who never got a chance to say thank you and applaud their own fans.
Consequently, for Martin O’Neill to defend that and call it absolutely acceptable really summed up the invincibility that Celtic think they have with the Scottish establishment.
The fact is that Martin O’Neill completely disgraced himself on radio.
We have had a level of restrained respect for O’Neill. He is a very good manager, or was. MON absolutely dominated Scottish football in the early noughties and destroyed our Rangers with something to spare.
He knew how to build a Celtic team that was tough, bruising and completely controlled Scottish football on the pitch.
We do have a respect for how good he was at that, as annoying as it of course was.
Respect lost after radio comments
But today, for this man, who is now in his 70s, to justify these dire actions by the Celtic fans, and indeed to call any suggestion that it was sinister to the contrary as nonsense, sums up how absolutely dithering and how much of the plot he has indeed lost.
We do not know if there will be action against Martin O’Neill for these comments. They are poor.
Jim White rightly and persistently called them out.
He pointed out that he had indeed called out Rangers fans and indeed Celtic fans at Ibrox for the mutually poor conduct.
O’Neill tried to point score with that incident and was of course rebuked entirely by White, who pointed out that these incidents had also been called out.
But he, O’Neill, refused to condemn Celtic fans at all, completely and sarcastically deriding any notion that they had done anything wrong.
The fact is that O’Neill did have some high profile respect, to be fair, because in a former life, Celtic players such as Billy McNeill and Tommy Burns were indeed decent men who we will not actually have any words against being spoken of.
But the guys of today, like O’Neill, have clearly been spoiled by absolute bitterness, and to suggest that the conduct at Parkhead was actually okay really shows you how absolutely lost they are in toxicity.
This was indefensible, and Jim White did absolutely bang on in calling it out.
Just a pity O’Neill humiliated on radio could not be honest too.