KING WARNS CELTS THEIR TIME IS OVER
DAVE dominance cards” qualify The King Ibrox if for Rangers the reckons will chairman Champions collapse win Celtic’s the made like title League. dynasty “a his and pack bullish of of prediction manager Steven as he vowed Gerrard to everything give new he needs to mount a credible challenge to the seven-in-a-row Hoops.
King has pledged to continue to underwrite losses and does not expect his club to reach profitability until they’re at Europe’s top table – which he insists would have chilling financial consequences for Celtic.
But it’s his comments on his arch rivals that will be viewed as most controversial as he hinted at a change in order akin to Martin O’neill’s arrival at Celtic in 2000.
Asked how he can bridge the gap King said: “We appoint a manager who can win games, with more resources, and we take one league away from
Celtic.
“We only need one league. We don’t need two or three. We need one. Once we take one away, it’s a pack of cards.
“Celtic’s costs structure is more like we were 10 years ago. We needed Champions League football and if we went into the Europa League we were in trouble because the cost structure was so high.
“Take that away for one season and it will change the numbers in the Celtic side very, very quickly.
“We have seen the cycle. I was with Rangers when we thought Celtic would never catch up – never in a hundred years.
“Dick Advocaat said they would never, ever catch up. I think it lasted 17 minutes of the next game we played against them (Celtic’s 6-2 win in August 2000.)
“They caught up with us 17 minutes into the next game and then went past us because Martin O’neill came in and figured out a different way to do it.
“You need the right management structure to do it. We have now gone very, very strong in the management squad.”