Martin O’Neill tells Russell Martin he’s made his first mistake as Rangers boss in his pursuit of Celtic

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As far as managers go, Celtic legend Martin O’Neill was one of the very best in the game.

The Celtic legend transformed the club when he arrived in the summer of 2000 and fans are enjoying the fruits of O’Neill’s hard work even to this day.

The foundations of success Celtic fans enjoy were laid by O’Neill as he wrestled the power from Rangers over his five-year period at Parkhead.

And to do that, he had to earn the complete trust of the players and fans as O’Neill started to plot Celtic’s domination of Scottish football.

With Russell Martin being charged by Rangers to win back that power from Celtic, O’Neill tells the Ibrox boss he has made his first mistake in his quest to challenge the Scottish champions.

Celtic legend Martin O’Neill tells Russell Martin he’s already made a big mistake at Rangers

Rangers’ draw with Motherwell at the weekend opened the door for Celtic to take an early advantage in their defence of the Scottish Premiership title.

And after hearing Russell Martin publicly berate his players, O’Neill said the Rangers boss has done something he would never have done at Celtic.

O’Neill said on talkSPORT, “I started to think about myself of what did I do in my earlier stages of management, and did I become critical of players early on in an attempt to ingratiate myself with fans?

“Do you give them some time that and that’s a point you have to consider, or is that a point of saying, ‘Listen, let’s get this out in the open’.

“I think, from a distance, I don’t think I would have been that critical of a team that has just got through two difficult matches against Panathinaikos. I really wouldn’t have done that there.

“If you have plenty to say, say it to them in the dressing room. If this is what you want to do, if you want to get something out in the open and you want to tell you want to bring people in, then if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it early.”

Celtic’s early advantage over Rangers

On and off the park Celtic are still so far ahead of Rangers despite the Ibrox club appearing to have new financial backers.

With a two-point advantage at the top of the league and millions of pounds in the bank, Celtic are in a prime position to lay an early marker on their rivals.

If Brendan Rodgers gets the players he wants to strengthen the Celtic team, and on the basis of what Rangers produced against Motherwell at the weekend, the Bhoys can leave the Ibrox club in their wake early on this season.