Soccer: Larsson - We are better than last time we won title
Celtic striker Henrik Larsson is convinced the club is much stronger than the last time the championship came to Parkhead.
That was in 1998 when Wim Jansen ended Rangers' bid to record an unprecedented 10 in a row trophies.
But Jansen, who had brought the Swede to Parkhead, resigned just days later for a variety of reasons connected to upheaval behind the scenes, especially at boardroom level.
Larsson said: "We have got a bigger squad than when we won it the last time.
"I think we had 16 players that we used that season. Now we have a lot of players who are on the verge of breaking through to the first team.
"We have to hope we can carry on playing the way we have lately and bring that through to next season."
Jansen had used his knowledge of Larsson's contract to exercise a clause that said he could move for just £650,000, which must make him one of the all-time bargain buys in Scottish football history.
But the pair were only together for that one season and Dr Josef Venglos, John Barnes and Kenny Dalglish have all since tried and failed to emulate the 1998 success.
Larsson said: "That's the way it goes in football. Now we have a new manager who has done a lot for us.
"We did not play well last season. That is a fact. We needed somebody to guide us and pull things together.
"He (O'Neill) has done great this year and I hope we can come here and play like this next season.
"But when you are champions every team wants to beat you. We experienced that the last time we won it and we didn't really live up to expectations.
"Whether we can do better this time depends on the start we get and on a number of different things."
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