CHARLIE NICHOLAS grew up a Celtic fan in Glasgow and ended up playing for his boyhood heroes in two separate spells. At 55 years old he remains a supporter, even if his refusal to “toe the party line” on Celtic matters has not always ingratiated him with certain people, most notably major owner Dermot Desmond who once reportedly took Nicholas to task for something he had said about his stewardship of the club.

“It was about me saying he was treating the football club like a toy - and after that phone call I believed he’d thrown his toys out the pram,” recalled Nicholas. “Some ex-Celtic players toe the party line but I told him I don’t do party lines. That’s not my style.”

The former striker may, therefore, be in a minority of one among Celtic fans when he reveals a wish for Rangers to get back on their feet for the benefit of Scottish football. Nicholas still lives in Glasgow but most of his media work takes place down south, where Sky Sports colleagues like to regularly rib him about the parlous state of the game.

Celtic have been largely untouchable in the four years since Rangers’ financial demise but that gap has grown even greater this season following the appointment of Brendan Rodgers as manager. Given the prospect of regular Champions League money and potential transfer income on a similar scale, there is more chance of Celtic disappearing off into the horizon than there is of Rangers or anyone else getting close to them again. Nicholas, despite his allegiances, doesn’t think that is good for the game as a whole.

“Listen, as a kid coming through the ranks at Celtic, my dream was to score the winner in an Old Firm game and make Rangers suffer every time I played in it,” he said. “That’s my upbringing and nothing’s changed. But I’m also a realist. I work in the media and, although I now work in England and don’t need to sell the Scottish game, I still care passionately about it.

“They laugh at us down there, of course they do. They say “when’s the split coming? When do Celtic get the trophy?” I get all that and I laugh and I make the best of it. However, I’m not enjoying it.

“I just want the edge to come back. In the last two seasons Aberdeen took us to February or March and, although we knew they weren’t going to win it, but it kept it going. The Celtic fans need that. There will be the hard core Celtic supporters who just want to rub Rangers’ noses in it and they’re entitled to that opinion.

“My view, though, for the good of the country, is different because, if this league continues to be totally bossed by Celtic, then there will be no hope for the national team either. Celtic are producing a lot of players for Scotland at the moment but it could soon be that the best players in Brendan’s side aren’t Scottish.”

Only a significant cash investment will make Rangers competitive again and Nicholas doesn’t think that is imminent.

“We’re talking about a big gap [to Celtic],” he added. “You can’t bring in two guys from Accrington Stanley and another two from Wigan – who were on their way down – plus a guy from Preston, who looked as though he’d run out of ideas at the end of his time there. They can’t be brought in and expected to understand the special pressure there is at Ibrox.

“Celtic gambled with Martin O’Neill and it got them to a European final. Tommy Burns didn’t have a budget under Fergus McCann – not one thin dime. Then, eventually, Fergus realised that he needed to spend – and that’s when the likes of Andy Thom, Pierre van Hooijdonk arrived.

“Celtic had to break the mould and that’s what Rangers now need to do. It feels to me as though Rangers still have issues in the background that we know nothing about [which prevents them from spending]. Players are getting loads of stick and the manager is being battered from pillar to post because he’s working with guys from Accrington Stanley and Wigan.”

Celtic remain on course to reach the fabled 10-in-a-row, while Rangers’ world record of 55 top-division titles may also be under threat. But Nicholas doesn’t see either as a big deal in comparison with the club winning the European Cup.

“What does 10 in a row mean to me, as a Celtic fan? Would that be a greater achievement than what Jock Stein did? No, not even close, compared to what the Lisbon Lions produced and the players he brought through.”

- Charlie Nicholas was promoting his forthcoming involvement in the next Legends of Football event at the Royal Concert Hall also featuring Bertie Auld on Thursday, April 13. For more information and tickets visit http://legendsof-football.com/