Rangers return giving Martin O’Neill perverse pleasure two decades on as he borrows words of Ibrox great

When he walked away from Glasgow more than two decades ago, it’s unlikely that Martin O’Neill imagined he would ever return to Ibrox — let alone celebrate his 74th birthday there.
Yet that’s exactly what awaits him this weekend. In a season packed with drama and extremes, O’Neill is set to step back through those familiar doors on Sunday, confronting once again a Rangers crowd that was hardly sentimental about his departure.
Fresh from a Europa League trip to Stuttgart, O’Neill had barely touched down at Glasgow Airport when word reached him of comments made by Rangers boss Danny Röhl. With Celtic FC travelling back from Germany, the veteran manager was quick to respond, reigniting old rivalries ahead of the latest Old Firm clash.
After heading straight to Celtic Park for media duties following Thursday’s 1-0 victory over Bundesliga opposition, his thoughts inevitably drifted to Ibrox — a stadium that holds some of his most intense memories.
Asked about spending his birthday across the city, O’Neill brushed it aside with typical indifference, insisting he stopped caring about birthdays years ago. His focus, he stressed, is entirely on the match. Quoting the late Walter Smith, he remarked that after these fixtures, the overriding emotion is “relief.”
O’Neill’s history at Ibrox is filled with both triumph and tension. One of the most enduring images from his tenure shows him defiantly applauding the away support alongside Neil Lennon after a fiery 2-0 defeat in 2004. It symbolised the intensity that defines this rivalry.
He expects no warm welcome this time either, openly acknowledging that abuse is part of the occasion — and insisting he wouldn’t want it any other way. For O’Neill, the fierce atmosphere is what makes the fixture special.
Among his favourite memories is that emphatic 3-0 victory at Ibrox in April 2001 during his debut treble-winning campaign, when Henrik Larsson struck his 50th goal and Lubomír Moravčík dazzled. It was also the day a teenage Shaun Maloney made his debut — and cheekily admitted he had hoped to start.
For O’Neill, the battles at Ibrox — the wins, the losses, the raw emotion — remain unforgettable. And as he prepares to return once more, the rivalry burns just as fiercely as ever.