Every now and again, my Newsnow feed fills up with some story or other that says the “Old Firm” are locked in a transfer tussle.
It is the very definition of Scottish football “fake news.”
Any such story belongs in the grubber.
Imagine a “tussle” between a sumo wrestler and Mr Muscle.
That’s how one sided any battle between Parkhead and Ibrox would be.
Any player that Celtic wants in that equation Celtic will get; there is simply no doubt about it at all, and do not listen to a soul who says otherwise.
Back in the sands of time, Murray might have been able to throw a few bucks and poach guys like Darius Adamcuk and Nacho the Ned; those days are over. Even before Craig Whyte came along flashing his £1 coin, we were the bigger club and more attractive prospect and people inside Celtic Park knew it for a fact, and openly said so.
During the Scott Brown pursuit, when all the press said he was Ibrox bound, Peter Lawwell told a group of Celtic supporters who were meeting with him on behalf of fan groups, that Celtic had decided he was a player we wanted and were going to get.
People at that meeting, some still swayed by a decade of the media telling us “for every fiver” worried that it might turn into an auction; Lawwell set them right on that. “If it does we will win,” he said.
And it was just as simple as that. In the end of course, he signed for a Scottish record fee and the rest as they say is history.
Over on the Sevco forums, they are well aware of this; their recurring nightmare for the January window is that we go for one or two of their domestic targets just because we can; McLean, Walker and Moult would all be “squad players” at Parkhead, but there’s little doubt that all three would opt to sign for us before them.
Scott Allan was brought up a Rangers fan; when the crunch came he didn’t hold out for a move to Ibrox. He knew we were the better bet and even if it hasn’t worked out as he would have liked, you get the feeling that story might not be finished yet.
As far as any such contest goes, that was finished years ago. Celtic Park is now, and forever, the most attractive place to come and play football in Scotland. The years when Rangers signings “jetting in” on Murray’s private toy are over. Sevco prospects are more likely to arrive at the ground in an old Skoda Octavia private taxi, probably driven by a Celtic fan who will have talked the guy out of his signing plans five times before they even reach the ground.