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Another Weekend That Proves No-One Does Self Deception Like A Sevconut.

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Today, after the Scott Brown testimonial, a hack cornered Martin O’Neill and asked a typically loaded question and got the hoped for answer; O’Neill thinks Gerrard might be a good appointment if he gets money, and a “strong Rangers” would benefit Celtic.

Now, personally speaking I have a high regard for our former manager as I’m sure is obvious. But he is talking rank nonsense when he says this, and he’s not alone amongst those who hail from a Celtic background and who talks this trash; I’ll say again what I have before on this issue. I don’t care who the media wheels out to repeat this. It will still be a lie. It may provide some cold comfort to the media, but it will not change, in the least, the situation.

And the situation in question is dire for that club. It’s dire because people inside it and around it continue to fantasise about the future instead of looking at it in a harsh light and trying to change the direction they are heading.

The O’Neill thing is a straw they cling to like a drowning man holding onto a rubber ring. It’s ironic really; they would disagree with this guy on the colour of the sky, but all of a sudden they reckon he’s talking sense and everyone should be listening. Quite what they think will happen if we all suddenly do take notice I really don’t know; maybe Celtic will give them money or something. Or maybe we’ll just lie down to them.

How likely do you think either of those things are?

Tonight Ibrox Noise has itself in a rage because they think the Notts Forest manager has insulted them over Jason Cummings. They claim Karanka has compared them unfavourably to his team and to Bolton, which in a way he has. It seems the Gerrard Effect hasn’t got as far as Nottingham. There’s not much chance of it circling the globe.

They are barmy, this lot. They really do think the whole world is against them. It’s just one of their many issues. The other is this daft notion of exceptionalism. The more they wrap themselves in that particular comfort blanket the harder life is going to be for them. They haven’t coped well with our success this season; their descent into the gutters of madness and hatred has been more spectacular than a Callum McGregor volley.

They tell themselves over and over again that they will be “back where they belong.” There are some, myself included, who maintain they are exactly where they belong; rolling around in the dirt amidst the fag ends and Saturday night sick. As long as they continue to scream obscenities at the rest of the world that’s exactly where they deserve to be and there’s no sign that they’re taking time to do any self-reflection. This summer will be a repeat of the last one and the one before that; the media whipping them into a frenzy of hysterical expectancy. It will be followed up the same way too, with a sudden crash to reality.

What amazes me is that there is no more a rational basis on which to base their current level of confidence than there has been since 2012. They also talk about a disparity of resources between us and the rest and they’ve managed to use that as an excuse for their own failure to win a major honour these last seven years whilst blatantly ignoring that their wage bill has been the second biggest in the country all the way through, even in the Third Division.

They also ignore the other clubs who have won things in that time.

I find their attempts to devalue our “double treble” and last year’s unbeaten run particularly hilarious and revealing. They appear not to have noticed that we had it harder before they were promoted. In all the years since 2012, we never once did an unbeaten campaign in the league. We never won a treble.

No, our biggest successes didn’t come until they were in the top flight.

To me, that says it all. I find it hilarious that they’ve failed to understand what that means. There is no challenge. There is no rivalry. If standards really have dropped across the boards I’d suggest that’s a greater reflection on them than it is on us.

These people really do have their heads lodged where the sun doesn’t shine.

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