Republic of Ireland and former Celtic manager Martin O’Neill says that he feels Rangers may have been harshly treated by the football authorities back in 2012 after accumulating a lot of debt.
The former Scottish champions were relegated to the bottom tier of the Scottish football pyramid. They have since worked their way back to the Championship, but the possibility of returning back to the Premier League still remains some way off.
After an extended absence, the old firm derby will be returning to Scotland with Celtic taking on Rangers in a League Cup semi-final match.
Ahead of this encounter, O’Neill has spoken about the punishment dished out to Rangers after the club spend beyond their means for several years to accumulate a lot of debt. The club went into administration and were then docked points. O’Neill says that Scottish football as a whole has suffered as a result of Rangers not being in the top flight. Celtic have won the league title without much competition. From being considered as one of the top leagues in Europe, Scottish league has now been suffering in terms of its image. This is expected to have repercussions in terms of the TV money for the next few years.
“It is absolutely. I think naturally, Rangers are a very big miss. I think Celtic have missed them in the last few years and not only that, but I think the Premiership have as well.The punishment on the face of things looked a little bit harsh, really. But it certainly has affected the game greatly, also with Hearts and Hibs not being there too, the Premiership has lost some of its lustre. Scotland are emerging again. Poland are very strong when they want to be and obviously, Germany won the World Cup,” said O’Neill.