Jim White reacts as Neil Lennon takes swipe at ‘small-minded’ Rangers over cancelled Celtic friendly
Neil Lennon claims there are “small-minded” reasons behind Rangers’ decision to back out of the Sydney Super Cup.
On Thursday [31 March], the Light Blues confirmed they have backed out of the trip to Australia to play Celtic in what was dubbed as a friendly game and the first Old Firm derby to be played outside of Scotland.
However, after it was dressed up as a homecoming tour for Ange Postecoglou, the Old Firm trademarking wasn’t used and huge opposition from fans, the Gers have backed out.
Ex-Celtic manager and player Lennon aimed a dig at Rangers over their decision to walk away from the lucrative friendly.
Speaking to talkSPORT on Friday morning [10:49am, 1 April], Lennon said: “Financially and commercially, it’s a missed opportunity in terms of what it means to both clubs in terms of revenue and obviously selling the profile of both the clubs worldwide.
“They have their reasons behind that. I know there was a lot of disenchantment from both sets of supporters about the game going ahead and it’s a shame because there isn’t a lot of money coming into the Scottish game compared to your top leagues and this was an opportunity to sell the game abroad.
“And for many reasons, Jim [White], as we know, a lot of may be small-minded and then it’s not going to happen. I think it’s a shame.”
TalkSPORT host Jim White then responded after the clip of Lennon was shared, saying: “So Neil says a lot of the reasoning for Rangers not going is ‘small-minded’.
“Simon [Jordan], what’s your take on it? We’ve spoken about this before.
“As I said earlier, it was almost inevitable that they pulled out. But is this not throwing the baby out of the bathwater?”
Ex-Crystal Palace manager Jordan then said: “First of all, there’s no benefit for the Scottish league for this particular game, the only benefit was for Celtic and Rangers so the other teams in Scotland could probably breathe a collective sigh of relief they’re not going to get another £4million each.”
Only one person who’s small-minded…
Financially, it’s a missed opportunity. Yes.
But how many times do people within football talk about how the game has sold it’s soul to the devil in regards to money?
If Rangers and Celtic get an extra £3-4million each, it’s only going to widen the gap between themselves and the rest of the Scottish Premiership.
Will that money do much in terms of strengthening them in Europe? No, it won’t.
Rangers are already in the last eight of the Europa League, which is a huge achievement.
However, these clubs have multiple players worth more than what they would have made from playing that friendly in Australia.
It’s not game-changing money for the Old Firm teams – it is for the rest of the Scottish football, though.
Lennon seems to think that it’s small-mindedness that’s led to Rangers backing out of the friendly game but really, they’ve done it because they couldn’t get what they wanted and also because the fans didn’t want it.
A lot of Celtic fans didn’t want it either.
In other Rangers news, Chris Sutton has reacted to the major news from Ibrox ahead of the Old Firm.