Martin O’Neill expresses Celtic and Rangers shock after Jim White question

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Celtic dropped points against Aberdeen on Saturday, but still managed to gain points on Rangers.

It was an entertaining match at Parkhead between the two teams with 100% records, as Celtic recorded a 2-2 draw against the Dons.

Brendan Rodgers would have been frustrated after the full-time whistle because his team let a 2-0 lead slip and only managed to register a point.

This was the chance for Philippe Clement’s side to pounce on the top two dropping points, but instead, Rangers were beaten at Kilmarnock 24 hours later.

That means that the champions are six points ahead of their rivals and you can only see that increasing as the season goes on.

Rangers are closer to fifth-placed Motherwell – three-point gap – than they are to Celtic, with the weekend’s action discussed on talkSPORT on Monday morning.

Jim White asks Martin O’Neill about Celtic and Rangers gap

As you can imagine, the bookmakers have made Celtic clear favourites to win the title, so much so, you might as well not put any money on it.

O’Neill was told about that before being asked by host Jim White about the gap and he admitted that he never expected or has seen it to be so big, as he told talkSPORT (21/10/24 at 11:40 am).

The legendary manager was pretty clear that Rangers look ‘unrecognisable’ and it’s a far cry from his days in the dugout.

“2-0 up at Celtic Park, that would have been a disappointment,” admitted O’Neill on the Aberdeen draw. “But that’s all it is. Then, their nearest rivals Rangers losing the following day, so it’s almost like a win situation.”

White then asked: “Have you ever imagined your time when you were at Celtic that they would be 1-14 to win the title.”

O’Neill responded: “No, no. Absolutely not. Absolutely (you had to previously graft like hell against Rangers to get over the line). Even times when we won the league by big margins, you still thought, Rangers under Alex (McLeish) were really strong and under Advocaat were really, really strong. So, you could never take your eye off the ball, at all. I have been saying for some weeks now, they are really, really ordinary Rangers. Really ordinary football team. Absolutely (unrecognisable team to the one I faced).”

Graeme Souness’ past comments on Celtic and Rangers gap

Most people agree that there is this huge gulf between the two clubs, even Kris Boyd has accepted the Celtic and Rangers reality.

But not everyone agrees, including a certain outspoken Graeme Souness.

Souness doesn’t think there is a big gap between Celtic and Rangers, with these comments made in August and the former midfielder maintaining that view even when Rodgers guided the team to a comfortable win in the Glasgow derby.

“The discussion last season was about the gap. Now I don’t think there is such a big gap. I really don’t.

“I think I saw about four games, two O-d F-rm games last year of Rangers. I obviously watch them on the telly when they are on, I watch Celtic when they are on, I don’t see the gap as being enormous.”

At the time, he got a lot of stick for it and fast forward to the present, he will only have more egg on his face because the gap is getting bigger and bigger.