They say that people born into poverty who somehow claw their way into the top 1% develop a relationship with money, with wealth, which borders on obsession. They treat it differently to those who were born with it. They are greedier. They want more of it. They are ruthless in their determination to hang onto what they’ve got.
I don’t know if any of that is true or not, but I know that I grew up watching Tories win elections and Rangers win leagues, and that after the famine all I can dream about now is feast. Victory never gets old. It never loses its edge. I am greedy about success. I want more of it. I want it to last forever. If our team goes through next season unbeaten I will celebrate that resoundingly. I will never get sick of it. I will never tire of us being number one.
Today Steven Naismith trotted out the old guff; Scottish football needs Celtic to slip. For the good of the game. Aye, right. He says that without it the game will die. But Celtic will die first. Fans will stop going. The attendances will drop off. The club will contract.
Man, oh man, talk about wishful thinking.
Let’s put it this way. There’s no chance that will happen for the next four campaigns. Ten in a row baby. The closer we get the more clamour there will be for it to continue, for the glory to go on and on and on. Once past the magic number, we’ll be going for eleven, to move far beyond their nine and to make it look ordinary. A year after that and we’ll have appropriated the slogan “Going for 55” as Rangers IV implodes. Wonderful.
Seriously. We could sup from the sweet spring of victory, and from their deep well of pain, for many, many, many years to come and it won’t ever lose its lustre.
I’ll tell you what though, I understand exactly what Naismith is up to here. This is “Operation Crawl Back Into The Good Graces Of The Peepul”. With them spending like the money trees have finally borne fruit every ex-Rangers player can smell a career-closing payday and they all want to crawl “home” for the bonanza, and all know the clock is ticking because it’s a matter of time before it all crashes down once more.
Of course, this crap has a willing audience in the media, who view the current power of Celtic as an existential threat to the toxic “Old Firm” brand they’ve been trying to push. Cause how can you manufacture a rivalry when only one of the teams cares about it and the other is so far in front that they can’t even see them in the rear-view mirror?
They love reading stuff about how bad it will be for the game if Celtic continue forging ahead.
What they mean is that it’s bad for one particular club, who’s fans really will desert in droves if this goes on for much longer. They’re gambling right now, putting down a big bet on catching us. That will sell season tickets, for this campaign anyway. But as they can’t afford this one what the Hell will they do if they have to fund another splurge, under another manager, this time next year? They’ll shut the doors long before then.
The next time we play them at home could be the last.
If we’re miles ahead – which I expect us to be – it’s over.
I hope the Celtic Park DJ has The Doors “The End” ready on the turntable.