Celtic have a special side, a young, talented team, but it hasn’t been challenged
BY CRAIG SWAN STAN PETROV fears Celtic’s top stars will quit if Rangers don’t get their act together.
The former Parkhead star loves seeing his old club beat their old rivals but doesn’t enjoy one-sided walkovers.
Such is the utter dominance of Celtic in the recent Old Firm encounters, Petrov is worried about the effect a lack of competition may have on the Hoops’ biggest names.
The Bulgarian pointed out that Henrik Larsson hung around Glasgow’s East End because of the challenges he had to face and that current heroes such as Moussa Dembele are not being tested in the same way.
He said: “Celtic have a lot of young, exciting players. These players would like to improve and be challenged.
“If they are not challenged here, if they don’t have someone to push them, then they will go. Can you blame them? No.
“If someone comes in for Dembele and he is not being challenged here then he will move on.
“People talk about Henrik Larsson but he explained why he stayed. The push, the build-up, the physicality, everything about that Celtic v Rangers rivalry and how it was shown around the world kept him here.
“If you don’t have that, how are you going to attract the good players to come to Scotland?”
Petrov enjoyed many challenges against Rangers stars such Jorg Albertz and Gio van Bronckhorst in his pomp at Parkhead.
It was nip and tuck then – both teams were competing in the group stage of the Champions League and they brought out the best in each other in the championship battles as well.
And even though he’s now retired, Petrov revealed he still gets a taste of the Old Firm edge from the likes of Alex Rae while playing for fun at fives.
He said: “It kept us on our toes. I don’t like to compare times but when we were playing we knew that if we lost a game or dropped points then it could be over for us.
“We couldn’t let Rangers ahead of us in case they became champions. Losing one or two points could be the difference. We lost one league by one goal and another by one point. That was how tight it was.
“When I was playing I knew I had to be ready when Rangers games came around.
“I started against the likes of Jorg Albertz, Gio van Bronckhorst and Barry Ferguson then it was Mikel Arteta or Alex Rae. Funnily enough, I played five-a-sides with Alex the other week and he still kicked the s*** out of me! But that’s Alex.
“I went round the keeper and he literally cleaned me out. Then he says to me: there are no fouls in five-a-sides Stan.
“That’s what you expect, that aggression. Do you see those kind of battles now? No.
“Now you could be 20 or 25 points ahead. For the health of Scottish football, that is not good enough.
“Celtic have a really special side, a young, talented team, but it hasn’t been challenged yet.
“I would like to see that because it would be good for Scottish football, Brendan Rodgers and Celtic.
“You want to see your rivals having a good team and giving you a push because if it continues like now, Celtic will lose their form and might not get anywhere in Europe.
“To be in Europe, you need to maintain your form and be on top of your game.
“If you look at it these days, Celtic could lose 10 games and still win the league. There is such a big gap between the teams.
“We are not talking so much about Rangers challenging Celtic but about clubs such as Aberdeen and Hibs.
“You know that at some point
STAN PETROV