Martin O’Neill is dead wrong about Celtic needing a strong club at Ibrox.

It was clear from last week’s 2-2 draw at Celtic Park that Aberdeen are capable of being serious contenders in the title race.

Many Celtic supporters have long hoped for a competitive league without needing a certain Glasgow rival involved, and it seems we may be on the brink of getting it. For this post, I’m going to do something I’ve rarely done here—take issue with a recent statement by Martin O’Neill.

O’Neill is a beloved figure at Celtic; he was the manager who restored our pride after a long, dark era dominated by Rangers and their boisterous, self-assured owner, David Murray. Those were the pre-financial crash years, before Murray’s company crumbled, before the full extent of EBTs was uncovered.

People often ask me about the hardest moments as a Celtic fan in the 90s when Rangers were piling on trophies. Oddly, I found the most trying times came after we broke their ‘10-in-a-row’ streak. There was this foreboding sense that Murray would rebuild Rangers, making them even more unstoppable.

Then Martin O’Neill stepped out of his car in the Celtic Park parking lot and declared he’d “do his level best to bring some success back to the football club.”

A year later, he’d delivered a treble.

Even during the peak Lawwell years, when title swaps with Rangers were routine, the sense that we were the bigger club had been firmly re-established. The pretence that they were Scotland’s dominant side was already fading fast. Sure, they managed three league titles before financial disaster struck, but then, Celtic’s full strength had yet to be unleashed.

O’Neill’s contributions to Celtic were monumental. He gave us our club back, restored our pride, and rekindled our faith. Even through Rangers’ last few titles before their collapse, we never wavered in our belief that Celtic was the bigger club, destined to be Scotland’s dominant force. So, when Rangers went under in 2012, no Celtic fan shed a tear. We celebrated their demise in jubilant style, with ‘jelly and ice cream’ becoming a humorous staple of our parties.

Last week, I noticed one of their fan pages had posted O’Neill’s recent comment suggesting Celtic are better when there is a strong club over there.

Their interpretation was that, back in 2012, nobody seemed to care about the welfare of Scottish football when Rangers was spiralling. But that’s revisionist nonsense. Rangers’ fall was their own doing, and the decision to make the NewCo start from the bottom was one of the bravest and most commendable in Scottish football history.

What bothers me most about the Survival and Victim Lies is that the story has been twisted into something shameful, when in fact, it should be a moment of pride. It was a time when integrity in the game prevailed, and clubs acted in their own best interests, with the sport coming out on top. The fact that this has been distorted into a pro-Ibrox sob story is a disgrace, and O’Neill’s comments unintentionally lend weight to a baseless narrative.

We are not, nor have we ever been, reliant on a strong club at Ibrox. A competitive challenge? Yes. But it doesn’t have to come from them. In fact, many of us would be quite happy if it didn’t.

It’s about finding a challenger who can match us win for win, one who keeps us sharp. That kind of competition could, ideally, come from anywhere.

Aberdeen’s recent rise is proof enough that another club can shake up the status quo, and I hope they’re up for the task. If they can pull off a solid result midweek and create some breathing room from Ibrox, it’s time to take them seriously as a contender—not one to lose sleep over, but a club that could help keep us on our toes.

O’Neill’s perspective is rooted in an era when two clubs dominated the Scottish game. For many people in Scottish football, that’s the only model they can picture. But that duopoly is over. Celtic are Scotland’s last remaining superpower, and I don’t think Ibrox is equipped to mount a consistent challenge that sees us scrambling to stay in charge.

Without a genuine challenge at home, Celtic need to focus on European ambitions. We need to pivot and develop the club with an eye on continental success, where a real test of our mettle lies. I believe this is where O’Neill’s view falls short.

He can’t quite see past the duopoly to grasp what’s in front of us.

With the new Champions League format and other European tournaments adopting league-style structures, European competition is clearly the way forward. Domestic rivalry? Absolutely. But not necessarily with them.

And as Celtic continue to play more fixtures in Europe, we’ll keep improving. The irony here is that our last truly great European run, leading to a final, was under Martin O’Neill himself. Of all people, he should understand that Europe is where our next great test lies.