Pallade Veneta - Celtic's O'Neill says Hearts' rise good for Scottish football

Edinburgh club Hearts are three points ahead of O'Neill's men after a dramatic 2-1 win at home to Rangers on Monday.

Rangers' defeat at Tynecastle all but ended their title bid, leaving them seven points behind Hearts and four adrift of second-placed Celtic with just three games remaining.

The Jambos, buoyed by investment from Tony Bloom, the owner of English Premier League club Brighton, and a link-up with Jamestown Analytics, are aiming to become the first team outside of Celtic and Rangers to be crowned champions of Scotland since Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen in 1985.

Speaking on talkSPORT radio on Tuesday, Celtic manager O'Neill was asked whether Hearts — who last won the Scottish title 66 years ago — were now equipped to become regular contenders.

"Why not? Absolutely," he replied. "Tony Bloom has invested in Brighton and he has also done the same at Hearts."

"If you're looking at it from a neutral viewpoint, which I certainly am not, but if you were, then there's been excitement this season because Hearts have come up, thrown down the gauntlet to the two big teams and I think that can only be good for (the league)," said O'Neill.

The veteran Northern Irish boss added that Hearts deserved "great credit" for "going strongly at it and being able to stay there", with Sunday's Old Firm clash between Celtic and Rangers no longer a title showdown.

"Rangers now are quite a number of points behind Hearts," said O'Neill. "We're talking about three games left, so that would be difficult to overcome at this particular stage.

"It's not impossible, it can happen. The games are very difficult matches still for all of us to come through. From our own position, we have to try and win the three games.

"Even that, strangely enough at this minute, mathematically, might not be enough but I still think there's a couple of twists left."

R.Zaccone--PV