NafisaIn recent developments, news that Martin O’Neill is close to putting pen to paper on a one-year deal to take charge of Celtic has reportedly been met with frustration and gloom among sections of the Ibrox support.
The veteran Irish manager has long been viewed as a nightmare figure for a generation of Rangers supporters who once believed the balance of power in Scottish football revolved around Sir David Murray and his so-called “Little General”.
At the dawn of the century, life at Ibrox was seemingly at its peak. Under Murray and Dick Advocaat, European success felt inevitable, with domestic dominance building towards what many believed could become 10-in-a-row.
But that sense of control was abruptly shattered in August 2000 when they came up against a charismatic and unpredictable Irish manager at Celtic Park.
Inside 15 minutes, Rangers were three goals down, and the eventual 6-2 defeat sent shockwaves through the support — a moment many still describe as a turning point in the modern rivalry.
They did manage a response later that season, beating Celtic 5-1 at Ibrox in November, although that opposition side featured the likes of Ronald de Boer and Tore André Flo, offering a slightly different context to the result.
Off the pitch, Rangers were also beginning to unravel financially. The Discount Option Scheme accumulated an outstanding HMRC liability of £2.7m, before matters escalated further with disguised remuneration schemes later branded as EBTs.
By May 2011, the era had effectively collapsed, with the club sold for £1 and entering liquidation a year later.
O’Neill’s arrival at Celtic during that period is widely regarded as a key catalyst for the shift in power that followed in Scottish football in the years after 2012.
While many Ibrox supporters will avoid acknowledging it publicly, those who lived through the 2000–2005 period understand the impact he had on the rivalry.
O’NEILL CONTINUES TO CAST A LONG SHADOW OVER IBROX:
O’Neill had barely returned to Celtic for a week before delivering a tactical lesson to Danny Rohl in the League Cup semi-final, immediately reasserting his influence.
The German coach had previously outmanoeuvred Wilfried Nancy to restore his reputation, but things quickly changed once Celtic came into view again.
Ahead of a key SPFL fixture, Rohl made headlines by discussing Kasper Schmeichel and suggesting surprise that Celtic hadn’t beaten Stuttgart by a wider margin — comments that did not go unnoticed.
O’Neill, when informed of the remarks, simply smiled and acknowledged them with a brief: “Oh did he”.
Celtic’s comeback from 2-0 down to salvage a point further unsettled the Rohl camp, before they returned a week later with a rotated side to win a Scottish Cup penalty shootout, in which Joel Mvuka made his second and final appearance.
With three league fixtures remaining, O’Neill then guided Celtic to a convincing 3-1 victory, a match remembered for Daizen Maeda’s sensational overhead kick — still debated by some as one of the greatest in Glasgow derby history.
The reaction from Ibrox was predictably intense. Frustration has grown around Rohl’s methods, his touchline behaviour, and his tactical decisions, with criticism often spilling into wider scrutiny.
There has even been the familiar pattern of discontent seen with previous managers, where supporters begin to question everything from selection choices to more trivial details.
And as the new season approaches, the narrative sets up an all-too-familiar scene: Rohl leading Rangers into Celtic Park… with Martin O’Neill waiting in the opposite dugout once again.
Nafisa
