Celtic manager Martin O’Neill has praised the atmosphere at the Glasgow Derby after his side beat Rangers at Ibrox. The Irishman, who returned to the Celtic dugout this season after twenty years, masterminded a victory against Rangers with a depleted Celtic squad to set up a return to Hampden.
Despite the penalties win being overshadowed by fan disorder after the game, O’Neill refused to jump on the bandwagon and criticise the spectacle of having a full allocation in the fixture once more.
In an interview with Jim White and Simon Jordan on Talksport on Tuesday, O’Neill said that having Celtic fans at Ibrox led to an incredible atmosphere, which he described as magical before recognising the ugly scenes.
“I thought the noise on Sunday, and the Sunday before where we only had two and a half thousand people there (at Ibrox) was not something I’ve heard in a long time,” O’Neill said on talkSPORT.
“Maybe (since) Celtic played Liverpool away back in 2003 have I heard a noise emanating from a stadium like that.
“So there is something magical about it and I am obviously quite saddened by the events. It’s a shame because I think the things that I was hoping would happen which hadn’t happened for a long time won’t happen again with the full (away) allocations at Ibrox and Celtic Park perhaps being taken away.
“There is obviously going to be a lot of toing and froing here about what happened. It’s not for me to go into proper analysis about it but I’m not pushing it to the side.
“It really was amazing on both Sundays and to replicate it at Celtic Park with a full crowd of Rangers fans, I think something will be lost from the Old Firm fixture if that atmosphere throughout the game is anything to go by.”
Celtic have finally broken their silence on the chaos at Ibrox on Sunday, speaking out about the concerns that they raised before the game as well as the surge from the Copeland Road Stand as Rangers fans attempted to get to the Celtic fans and assaulted members of the Celtic staff on the pitch. This follows a number of unacceptable behaviour from individuals at Ibrox, from one end in particular, without real ramifications.
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