Actor James McAvoy, a diehard Celtic fan, has admitted that, since the Rangers saga, football lin Scotland has lost "a wee bit of magic" - but also says he loves the "drama" of watching the Ibrox club "climb their way back up".

In an interview with Absolute Radio's Rock 'N' Roll Football show, McAvoy also said that he'd like to see the old firm taken into the English league, and put "in the depths of non-league football and then watch them climb up over 8 or 9 or 10 seasons...That would be awesome, what a story."

McAvoy, who was promoting his new film, Filth, says he's really happy with his team at the moment, and that he's really grateful to Neil Lennon - who has been "instrumental" in "bringing a little bit of the noise back to Celtic Park, because it did go quiet [after Tony Mowbray] and Celtic Park has never been a quiet place."

Part of the interview goes like this:

(PD-Pete Donaldson, from Absolute Radio; JM-James McAvoy)

PD: I must mention Celtic obviously. Do you manage to catch any of the (Barcelona) match yesterday?

JM: I did watch yeah, yeah.

PD: You did watch the match yesterday. Was it a sending off?

JM: A yellow card.

PD: [laughing] No it wasn't he kicked out. What's wrong with you?

JM: He kicked out. He did kick out.

PD: Yeah.

JM: When he kicked out but I mean like he barely touched him.

PD: Yeah.

JM: And it wasn't a hard kick out.

PD: No.

JM: And …

PD: But I don't think that's how the law of the game works.

JM: I've seen worse challenges than that in that game go unpunished.

PD: Yeah.

JM: Not receive yellows put it that way.

PD: Yeah.

JM: And in the interest of not killing the game and also in the interests of you know, that guy, Neymar should be punished by me. But, like kind of I think maybe Gordon Strachan said something really good. He said yeah, fair enough Scott Brown gave the referee the opportunity to send him off, however, Neymar has to go home to his girlfriend or his wife and go what did you do today darling and went, oh I cried like a baby for a guy who nearly hit me.

PD: He also said, I don't want to get in that captain's head.

JM: He did actually, he said you don't want to be in Brownie's head.

PD: You don't want to be in Brownie's head.

JM: I don't know if he meant that generally or just at the moment. It …

PD: Is there a little bit of Brown in there, in your character in this film that you've made?

JM: Yeah no, definitely. Definitely. I'd say there is a little bit of Scooch in my head.

PD: How are you finding the football league at the moment because obviously Rangers aren't involved. Has it lost a little bit of the magic, a little bit of the …?

JM: I don't think you can deny that it has lost a wee bit of magic. However, I think the … because that rivalry is so … unfortunately that rivalry is so important to Scottish football. I wish it wasn't, I wish it was other … I wish there were other you know potentially sort of captivating …

PD: You've got Hearts in there haven't you?

JM: I know but you … and I've got nothing against any other team. I just wish the draw of Scottish football was more exciting and there was more but I don't think that you can deny that the most attractive thing about Scottish football is the old firm rivalry and hopefully that will change. Maybe them being away for a few years will make it change and maybe it will. I love the drama of the story though of watching Rangers climb their way back up. It's a really exciting tale.

PD: Yeah.

JM: And I do wish they were in more secure hands because it seems like they're not.

PD: A club with such pedigree and you know?

JM: Yeah and I'm a Celtic fan but I don't want them … I don't want them to disappear. I don't want them to suffer like that you know.

PD: Yeah.

JM: But I do love the story of them climbing up. It's also why I'd love the old firm to be taken into the English league.

PD: Yeah.

JM: And put in the depths of non-league football and then watch them climb up over 8 or 9 or 10 …

PD: Oh so what you …

JM: … year. That would be awesome what a story.

PD: You'd put them in the Uni-bond kind of...

JM: Yeah totally, what a story. What an adventure that would be.

PD: Like the Conference North.

JM: Yeah.

PD: Would they be in the Conference North. I guess they would be?

JM: Probably be yeah. But I think Celtic have done brilliant and I think what Neil Lennon has been instrumental in doing is bringing a little bit of the noise back to Celtic Park because it did go quiet and Celtic Park has never been a quiet place.

PD: No.

JM: But it did go quiet after Tony Mowbray. Nothing against him. And he brought a lot of fire and as he put it I think I'm quoting him rightly when he said he wanted to bring the thunder back.

PD: Yes.

JM: And he's done that. But he's also given us Champion's League football.

PD: Yeah.

JM: Which if we didn't have that it would, in Scottish football and certainly Scottish football for Celtic supporters would be a starker environment. And he has done wonders to make that happen because he can't go for the same players as even the lowliest Premiership team. He's got to find people that nobody else is going for.

PD: Yeah.

JM: Who can still do a job in the Champions League. And that's a small pool and whoever is in charge of his recruitment or whoever's helping him do his recruitment have worked wonders.

PD: But you guys have always kind of sort of cross bred with these kind of European players who aren't that well known, who perhaps kind of haven't proven themselves elsewhere and …

JM: Yeah, we've done really well. Well Henrik Larsson is one of the best great examples and someone like Lubomir Moravcik and Jorge Cadete and Hooijdonk and all that. And you know even Paolo Di Canio.

PD: Yeah.

JM: You know when we brought him into British football he was … he was, I don't know if he was languishing at the time in football but he wasn't flying in Italian football. And I think we brought him for about a million or something like that. And Henrik Larsson I think we bought for 650,000. Who was it? Was it Jo Venglos that brought him in. No Wim Jansen brought him in.

PD: Right okay yeah.

JM: And he turned into one of arguably the best footballers in Europe at the time.

PD: A wonderful piece of work.

JM: And what I loved is everybody said you know it's at Celtic, he's good at Celtic, he's good in the Scottish does that mean anything and then he went to Barcelona and did it and he was the only one at Barcelona who showed up when they won the Champions League against Arsenal in that game and then did it for Man United as well so. If you can do it in the Scottish League you can do it anywhere.

PD: If you can do it in the Scottish League!

Tune into Ian Wright's Rock 'N' Roll Football on Absolute Radio on Saturday to hear the full interview. Listen live here