Anyone from the Ibrox operation who believes that their supporters were more pleased with this draw than ours were has never been on any of our forums. Anyone from their dressing room who thinks cheering at getting Celtic was especially smart really won’t be challenging for a place on any new version of the Krypton Factor. A manager who expresses his own joy at drawing the biggest club in the country on the grounds he thinks he can win … what can you say?
The hubris bubble at Sevco has been expanding for weeks now. I am a keen student of hubris and recognise this when I see it. Hubris is a dangerous overconfidence, even arrogance, of the most extreme sort. The word is from ancient Greek and describes those whose ego grows so great that they challenge the Gods themselves.
And the Gods had an answer for that. In such circumstances they sent the angel of retribution – Nemesis – to exact their heavenly revenge.
To use the word in its modern context contains in it the implicit idea of nemesis, that all that self-loving over-reach will come at a cost. And of course it will. Sevco was born in hubris. It has, since it was formed, believed it was more than it is, and acted like it, throwing its weight around like a big kid in a schoolyard. Sevco was born a bully.
And, in terms of suffering setbacks and scandals, it has reaping the consequences of doing so time and time again. Yet nobody attached to Ibrox ever learns. Nobody ever winds in their neck. For weeks we’ve been reading about how we’re suddenly in a title race; I can already tell that nobody at Ibrox is smart enough to tamper this talk down in the last week before we go to Ibrox. They will just keep on talking this shit, and our players will simply listen.
And come the weekend we’ll do our talking on the park.
Their fans are no better. Video footage of them cheering like Superbowl winning supporters when the draw was made shows that the hubris bubble has engulfed them as well. It’s nothing we’ve not seen before from them, and if we approach the games in the way we can then we’ll not only win both of them but we’ll win them comfortably.
The fundamentals haven’t changed here. We have the better manager, the better players, the better record, we’re top of the league and with one trophy already in the bag. Our club is stronger than theirs. Our club is better run than theirs. That stuff does make a difference. It does trickle down. Our manager knows where he’ll be next season; theirs doesn’t.
And that stuff matters, and it will matter this weekend.
The opportunity has come for us to well and truly burst this bubble.
Nemesis is coming for Sevco, its manager, its fans and its players.
Nemesis wearing a Celtic top.
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