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Carragher’s “King Of Scotland” Accolade For Gerrard Is Hubristic Nonsense.

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Let’s talk a little about reality, shall we? Let’s talk a little about the realities of this campaign, and the Scottish game as a whole during this dreadful pandemic. And let’s talk about the reality of what is really going on at Ibrox, or what we know of over there.

Today the press is gushing over Jamie Carragher’s coronation of Gerrard as the “King of Scottish football”, a grotesque insult to everyone else in the game and a flat-out denial of the realities here.

Gerrard, if he wins the title, will have won his first domestic honour out a possible eight so far, and he has been at Ibrox for three years.

He has spent tens of millions of pounds, vastly outstripping not only what every other club in the country has available to them, but it’s also money his club itself doesn’t have to spend.

It’s financial doping. This is not a tactical genius here.

For years all we have heard about is the poor quality of the Scottish game; I agree the standard isn’t great.

But one of the principle reasons Neil Lennon had to go is that he has struggled in a season where the standard is lower than it has ever been before. Lennon wasn’t sacked as a reflection of the league table, and this is what some in his corner have failed to understand. He was sacked because the teams who have taken points from us should be seen in our road.

The global pandemic has rocked some of these clubs to their foundations. There is not a single squad in the game save the ones at Parkhead and Ibrox which started this season as strong as they had been the year before. Not one had improved. All had regressed. If Gerrard really is the “king” he’s ruling over a wasteland.

He certainly will not “dominate for years.”

Let’s be honest, those of us who look at the big picture understand that talk of Sevco being “saved” by Champions League money is just daft. That club always spends more than it earns.

What they will do is increase the cost-base until the first season they’re deprived of Group Stage football is ruinous.

I think we’d be in trouble if we had to go a season without it … their spending to income ratio puts them in a far worse position than it would put us.

The incredible confluence of circumstances which have delivered Gerrard his first title – a Celtic meltdown, a lockdown, incredible “luck” in spite of numerous protocol breaches, a rash of “honest mistakes” and the like – will not be repeated.

Whatever other “magic formula” is in use at Ibrox, that’s a trick that can’t be repeated too often.

All we need to do is get the fundamentals right and all else will follow.

Bring in the right manager and the right team around him. Keep the best parts of this squad together, save for the players who’ve already made up their minds to go. Bring in some quality to play alongside them.

We have the resources. We have the ability to push the boat out.

Lawwell’s departure doesn’t weaken us; indeed, I think it will vastly improve our ability to close deals and get things done at speed. All we have to do is get the basics right and next season has a different texture to it.

If we bring in the right boss it will end differently as well.

Gerrard is the hero for now. That’s what happens when you are winning. But his record has been poor overall, and he’s had a near total absence of pressure on him, and that’s important to note.

All this talk of him as some kind of overlord of the game … on the back of one trophy in three years?

What an insult that is to those others who’ve won things.

And that includes Neil Lennon, who had to go, for sure, but who’s record against Gerrard prior to this campaign was five trophies out of five. He failed to win the League Cup, but Gerrard also failed to win that one. N

obody christened him “the king of Scottish football” and that record is far more deserving of that sort of accolade.

Carragher is Gerrard’s mate, and a certain amount of hyperbole can be tolerated as a result but it’s the glee and the drooling in the media that insults all of us. Give Gerrard his due, but that’s all he’s worth.

Time will tell how long his “success” lasts … and what it’s built on.

[snack-countdown title=”Celtic’s Countdown To Champions League Disaster” date=”06/20/2021″ time=”00:00:00″ colour=”#000″ textColour=”#FFF”]

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