There are more changes at Rangers, as Celtic watch on from afar with their Premiership title in hand.
All of Rangers’ troubles have left Kris Boyd seething, and it’s great to see, especially because he ran his mouth at the start of the season as to what his former side would do compared to Celtic.
But after Rangers sacked Russell Martin, it’s the same old story at Ibrox again, and Boyd wanted to use Celtic hero Matt O’Riley to slam the eighth-placed side.
Celtic signed O’Riley from MK Dons for £1.5 million in 2022, and he went on to win the Treble, as well as being one of the best pound-for-pound purchases in Scottish football in recent times.
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Kris Boyd praises Matt O’Riley’s impact at Celtic amid Rangers players’ struggle
Speaking on the Warm Up Podcast, Boyd dug out Rangers players, who have come up from English football, and shown a ‘disrespect’ towards the Scottish game.
The former striker stated those players think playing for Rangers in the Scottish game is easy, but it’s always far from it.
That’s why Boyd wanted to give O’Riley his flowers for how well he did in such a pressured environment after arriving as a fresh-faced youngster from English League One side, MK Dons.
“I kind of feel there has been a disrespect towards Scottish football,” said Boyd. “There have been a lot of players who have arrived from English football who probably think Scottish football is easy.
“It’s not an easy environment to play here. If you make it in the professional game, you’re not a bad footballer. You have obviously got something.
“But there is one thing playing in Glasgow, especially, it tests your character. Your character is questioned to represent Rangers or Celtic. I don’t see it, and I think a lot of the Rangers players are struggling.
“You probably look at Scottish football. Rangers and Celtic. Two big clubs, you can go up there. Celtic have actually done okay in that market. If you think about people like Matt O’Riley, who came up and done really well. You were able to move him on for big money.
“When you look at a lot of the Rangers one, we felt as if they would have arrived and do well. Todd Cantwell. Tom Lawrence. Ben Davies. They have all left with their tails between their legs and gone back down the road.”
O’Riley’s numbers and impact at Celtic
The man who signed O’Riley for Celtic was Ange Postecoglou, but it could be argued that it was Brendan Rodgers who took his game to the next level.
Since then, O’Riley has grown and grown, including securing a record transfer to Brighton and Hove Albion last summer, before joining Marseille this summer.
But like many Celtic players of the past – Virgil van Dijk, Jeremie Frimpong and Victor Wanyama – they were first introduced into the big time by the champions of Scotland, and then continued to rise.
- Games: 124
- Goals: 27
- Assists: 35
- Trophies: 8
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