‘He’s kidding himself’: Martin O’Neill slams Graeme Souness’s Celtic vs Rangers claim after Old Firm derby thrashing

Martin O’Neill has rubbished Graeme Souness’s claim that the gap between Celtic and Rangers is not that big after all.

It was Celtic who emerged 3-0 victors when the Old Firm met at Celtic Park last weekend.

It continued the pattern set last season, where Rangers failed to record a single win over their rivals, who continued their dominance over the Scottish Premier League.

They eventually finished eight points clear of the Ibrox side after Rangers crumbled under the pressure of the title race.

However, former Rangers midfielder Souness appeared on talkSPORT after the final Old Firm game to discuss exactly how the Scottish rivals compared to each other.

And despite Brendan Rodgers’ side’s comfortable victory, Souness insisted there may not have been such a big gap between the teams after all.

“There is definitely a gap,” he explained. “But for me, that gap, looking at it from my point of view, is that Celtic have better strikers.”

“Those stats don’t suggest they’re going to turn up and attack Rangers at Park Head. Last year, Rangers finished second behind Celtic.

“At the end of the season, they spent £28m. We spent £14m, and they made a lot of money. So we’re chasing them, but we’re spending half that amount of money in the summer months.

“So there is a gap. Rangers are not in a healthy financial position at the moment. Celtic are in a much better financial position which allows them to go out and pick the players that suit them.

“Rangers are buying under pressure, and everyone they sign has to come in and do their job at the moment. It’s a tough situation.”

However, not everyone was so optimistic about the disparity in quality between the two teams at the moment.

Former Northern Ireland international and ex-Celtic manager O’Neill took a rather bleaker view of Philippe Clement’s side and their current situation.

And when asked what he made of Souness’s claims on White and Jordan’s show, O’Neill did not hold back.

“He is deluding himself, of course!” he admitted. “Because there is a gap, there is a chasm between them.”

“Yes, in a game that lasts 90 minutes, they can be very close. And if they beat you 1-0 or 2-0, you can ask yourself a lot of questions about that (being close).

“But in reality that game (last week) was not close at all. Celtic played much, much better.

“And the idea that Rangers have spent less money is only due to their decline in recent years. But it has been terrible, it really has been terrible.

“And I don’t think it does Celtic any favours, because for Celtic to be really strong and try to compete in European football… to be strong, Rangers have to be strong.

“And Rangers are not. They are a very, very poor team. And I think they are the poorest team I have ever seen in my career as a footballer.”

And the former Nottingham Forest midfielder felt Rangers’ performance last season summed up exactly how far away they were from being able to meaningfully challenge Celtic again.

O’Neill added: “Their signings don’t look very strong at all. Forget European football, just compete in domestic football!”

“When I say gap, I mean Celtic have the ability to come away from home and win tough games that could cause a problem.”

“Rangers weren’t guaranteed to come away from home and get a good result. Last year – and I know I’m not putting it down to one game – but they had this opportunity to win and to overturn that deficit.

“And they were in a good position too, even after the game against Celtic, which they drew.

“They go to Ross County, take the lead against Ross County and get beaten. A Rangers team shouldn’t do that.”

As Celtic prepare to embark on another Champions League campaign this year, O’Neill also believed the failings of their local rivals would also be a serious disadvantage for them.

Celtic face the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta, RB Leipzig and Aston Villa in the group stages of Europe’s premier competition, but O’Neill believes their opponents’ lack of quality could make their campaign much tougher.

“If I look at it from a Celtic point of view, you need Rangers to be strong,” he explained. “You need them to be very, very competitive. And that keeps you strong.

“Yes, there will be plenty of Celtic fans who will be absolutely delighted with the situation at the moment. But not for me.

“I felt at that time, going back 20 years (when I was a manager), coming into that environment where you had a really strong Rangers team, it motivated you to try and compete.”