Rangers cup defeat was just the tonic for Celtic, says Charlie Nicholas

CHARLIE NICHOLAS believes Celtic’s Scottish Cup defeat to Rangers last season made them see sense.

The former Hoops striker was a vocal critic of former Parkhead boss Ronny Deila and did not like the direction in which the Norwegian was taking his old team.

But he feels the penalty shootout loss to their Ibrox rivals in last term’s dramatic Hampden semi-final was the jolt majority shareholder Dermot Desmond needed to drop a patchy signing policy.

And with Brendan Rodgers now at the helm of a team brimming with star talents such as Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair, Nicholas says the difference is clear.

The 55-year-old Sky Sports pundit said: “At one stage, Celtic were hanging on for grim death thanks to boredom, laziness – they just weren’t facing reality.

“But reality hit when Rangers put them out of the cup last season.

“That forced them to admit they were getting the football philosophy wrong. They had some successes with the likes of Fraser Forster, Victor Wanyama and Virgil van Dijk, selling them on for big money, but don’t forget about all the drifters who came in on big salaries.

“So that wasn’t right but they were still winning the title and they were hanging on to season tickets.

“That took me back to my time when (former chairman) Desmond White was saying there were only 67,000 fans at Parkhead for Old Firm games, when there was actually 90,000. Celtic were doing it the other way about last season to camouflage the issues.

“But Brendan has come in and said, ‘If you want me to do football, I’ll do football. We’ll be better’. And they have let him get on with it and everybody can see the difference.

“He isn’t worried about anyone else, about Rangers catching him. He’s only worried about making his team better and exciting to watch.

“I’m more critical of Celtic than any other team because I’m a Celtic man. But I don’t dance to anybody else’s tune. If I like what I see, I’ll say it. If I don’t, I won’t.

“So It’s been absolutely refreshing. If I had the opportunity to go, I’d like to see this team play more often.”

Nicholas will be appearing alongside Lisbon Lion Bertie Auld at the Legends of Football event at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow on Thursday, April 13.