O'Neill's boys reach Premier standard

It was meant to be a night to remember for Ryan Giggs. Similarly, it was meant to be a night to remember for Juan Sebastian Veron and Ruud van Nistelrooy as well, with England's record transfers both making Old Trafford debuts.

Instead of an easy-going, goodwill testimonial, however, what the sell-out crowd of 67,000 got was a feisty night that they will not quickly forget, Eric Cantona's surprise introduction 15 minutes from the end making sure of that.

But the question for the rest of British football, one of several hanging over the ground like a full moon, was whether they were sharing the same perspective.

In the context of the Glaswegian proposal to shunt Celtic and Rangers south to England as early as season 2004-05, last night's supposed friendly offered a timely stepping stone from which to glance into a possible future.

There is still a river swollen with argument and red tape to be crossed, of course, but the view looked colourful at the very least. That was particularly so when Chris Sutton and Neil Lennon had put Celtic two up in four minutes.

The same two players soon had their hands raised in the direction of Phil Neville and Paul Scholes, and later David Beckham became sufficiently animated that he was taken off before nine o'clock.

From the point one-and-a-half minutes in when Sutton steered in Didier Agathe's cross, this was suddenly a real match. It never really let up, but Sutton's moment was the time to recall that Celtic's season started last Saturday and that they face Ajax in a Champions League qualifier next Wednesday. It was also a moment to consider anew Celtic and Rangers' alleged inferiority.

Celtic's 15,000 fans hardly require an academic background against which to make themselves heard. They were in unsurprisingly loud voice again and nearly got away with a chorus of You'll Never Walk Alone. And that was before the goals.

One sobering thought for them, though, is that normally the opposition here receive about 2,000 tickets. However, for the club as a whole this beginning was akin to the glossiest cover imaginable on their dream prospectus for joining the Premiership.

One of the questions central to the Old Firm question is what Celtic and Rangers can bring to the party. Now, after only five minutes, Celtic's ambitious directors could argue: well, allied to thousands of vibrant supporters, noise, colour and passion, a reasonable team too.

Sky transmitted this live and they will examine the viewing figures carefully.

Even when Van Nistelrooy strode onto an instinctive flick from his new attacking partner Scholes to score with a precise finish in the 26th minute, Celtic responded without a trace of trepidation.

Henrik Larsson, whose movement was causing Manchester United's back four all sorts of problems, started weaving again.

He found Sutton on the edge of the United area. He found Paul Lambert - 1-3. It was so easy it verged on the comical, though Roy Keane was not laughing. His first Old Trafford outburst at his colleagues duly followed.

Just over half an hour later when Veron crowned his first appearance with a drop volley to treasure, making the score 2-3 and lifting the subdued home fans, Celtic's ageing but gifted substitute Lubomir Moravcik promptly embarrassed Fabien Barthez with an equally impressive 30-yard free-kick.

Celtic's resolution was on display. Long before then the man behind it, Martin O'Neill, had ventured down from his perch on the bench to the touchline.

Celtic's latest shareholder must have been thinking it was a grand old team to invest in. He had had a productive day until that point - potentially sanctioning the spending of the guts of £8 million on John Hartson from Coventry City, Steve Guppy from O'Neill's old club Leicester City and Mohammed Sylla from St Johnstone. All three deals are subject to medicals, especially Hartson's.

Without the big Welshman, though, Celtic passed theirs last night.

Manchester United: (4-4-2) Barthez; Irwin, Neville G, Stam, Neville P; Beckham, Veron, Keane, Giggs; Scholes, Van Nistelrooy.

Celtic: (3-5-2): Kharine; Boyd, Mjallby, Tebily; Agathe, Lennon, Lambert, McNamara, Petta; Larsson, Sutton.

Referee: M Dean

Guardian service