Brendan Rodgers now knows that he will be pitting his wits as Celtic manager up against new Rangers boss Russell Martin next season.
After seeing off Philippe Clement, Rodgers is now on the sixth Rangers boss over his two spells as the Celtic manager as the Parkhead club’s success continues to cause more Ibrox casualties.
Russell Martin was appointed last week amid a flurry of headlines as the former Southampton man is now charged by Rangers to stop Celtic.
However, Hoops legend Martin O’Neill has fired a warning to the new Ibrox boss as he tells Martin what he is up against from Celtic next season.
Russell Martin told Celtic will be ‘motivated’ to keep Rangers under wraps
O’Neill is an icon at Celtic Park. The Hoops support idolises the Northern Irishman as the man who revolutionised the club into the winning machine that they have enjoyed for over two decades.
And the former Celtic boss has warned the new Rangers boss that Rodgers will not be ready to give that up.
O’Neill told The Sunday Post, “Celtic won the league very comfortably last season and they deserve credit.
“Winning a title is never easy and shouldn’t be taken for granted. It’s 10 months of hard work and you need to produce a level of consistency over that period.
“Brendan and the squad will be motivated to do it again and they are looking to achieve five-in-a-row.
“Across the city, at Rangers, they will be trying to stop that from happening. It will be interesting to see how Russell Martin goes about that.”
Martin O’Neill tells Rangers an uncomfortable truth about Celtic
With Celtic going for their 19th league title in 25 years, O’Neill has warned Martin that he is going up against a proven winner in Rodgers.
“The games between both clubs will be important, of course, and Celtic will take a bit of stopping over 38 games.”, continued O’Neill.
“Brendan knows how to be successful with Celtic and has brought trophies to the football club on a regular basis.
“They will also want to build on last year’s good work in the Champions League. First, they need to get there and they will have a qualifier to play in late August.
“Again, you can never take anything for granted but I’d be confident of Celtic getting through.
“That would give them access to the new format and they enjoyed that set-up last season. It worked well for them and I’m sure it can do so again.”
Celtic have plenty of money in the bank to keep Rangers and 49ers Enterprises at bay.
But more importantly, as O’Neill states, Celtic have a manager in Rodgers that knows what it takes to win trophies under pressure and that is something new Rangers boss Martin has never experienced during his entire managerial career.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
