O'Neill slams SPL verdict

Martin O’Neill has accused the Scottish Premier League of bias towards Rangers following their decision to move the final Old Firm game of the season.

The Celtic boss believes that his side are now at a disadvantage because the Ibrox game will take place just three days after their UEFA Cup semi-final second leg against Boavista.

The Bhoys will only fly back to Scotland the day after their match in Portugal, giving them little preparation time for the crucial SPL encounter.

The game has been brought forward in attempt to avoid trouble from a potential title decider later in the season.

O’Neill is, however, far from happy with the decision and believes more leeway would have been shown had Rangers been in the same situation.

“Let me tell you, it wouldn’t have happened the other way,” snapped O’Neill. “Had Rangers been involved then there would have been absolutely no way this would have happened.

“You will have to ask the SPL why they have done this? It’s a nonsense.

“There is only one of two teams which can win the league and you would have thought that because we are actually flying the SPL flag at this minute in Europe they might have seen that this wouldn’t have been the most sporting gesture ever made.”

The SPL are reluctant to see a repeat of 1999 when Rangers won the title at Parkhead amid ugly crowd scenes when referee Hugh Dallas was cut by a coin.

But O’Neill is furious that the club was not consulted about the decision and believes that they should think about scrapping the mid-season split.

“I don’t think it has left people in too much doubt,” he added. “It should never have got this far and long before it hit the public, Celtic should have been consulted.

“I accept nobody wants to see the scenes of 1999 again and if the way to do that is to make sure that Rangers and Celtic don’t have a fixture that could possibly be a league decider then you are going to have to think about playing the fixture in early March.

“They could just not bother with having the split – that is something the SPL will have to consider.”

But striker John Hartson believes that playing so many big games in a matter of days could work in their favour and see them go to Ibrox and beat their arch rivals.

The Welshman said: “Sometimes fatigue and tiredness creeps in with the travelling in a little bit.

“People might say it’s not fair, but sometimes it can work in your favour. When you have got the ascendancy, all sorts can happen.

“If we were to go to Boavista and win and get to the final, then everyone is buzzing and playing well and we will go to Rangers confident of the win.”