Celtic Turns The Screw And Maintains Ibrox’s Destabilising Uncertainty.

Had we dropped points last night the pressure on Ibrox would have eased just a little. That last minute winner has ratcheted it up once more. Their uncertainty is destabilising. I don’t see any easy answer for them when it comes to getting out of it.

They need money. We know they need money.

They would probably like to have the oxygen which allows them to sell in January and not concern themselves with how it will affect the squad. But Celtic will not give them that oxygen. The pressure stays on.

I love moments like last night, knowing you are pushing others to consider their options even as you are celebrating the victory. A six-point lead wouldn’t have been definitive, but they could have come to Celtic Park and played for a draw. Any sales they made with a six-point lead might not have damaged morale amongst the support.

Those things are up in the air again. They know we’re powering through with an injury crisis, and that we’ll be stronger when our players are back. They know too that if they’re going to kill us in this campaign that this spell is their best chance. If we get through this and then strengthen in January, as we will, then it’s ours to lose and they know it.

At that point, how can they sell someone? If their fans watch us improve our squad and they weaken theirs they will go tonto. They will blame their board directly if they lose the league.

These are the choices our form is pushing them to; unsustainable spending versus indefensible selling. Who even knows if there’s real interest in their players, but a familiar PR wheeze at Ibrox is to pretend that there is in order to try and generate some.

And of course, that makes the players wonder what the offer would have been had it got to them, even when the offer isn’t there. That makes them unsettled. Their dressing room is already divided, although Van Bronckhorst is disguising it well at the moment.

Let’s not forget either that King is out there, somewhere, planning God alone knows what but trying to get back onto the board. Why? Only he knows but be sure it’s in nobody’s interests but his own. Now that ten in a row is no longer a factor he has to worry about being associated with his rampant ego is itching again and he needs to scratch it.

That club cannot stop lurching into turmoil. Even now, when the media would have you believe that all’s quiet on the Ibrox front, it bubbles away under the surface. They are as addicted to it as they are to spending money … because they need smooth sailing to thrive and we’re not going to give them that opportunity. We are on them. They cannot shake us off.

And sooner or later we will take advantage of them when they slip.

That makes their choices nothing but tough ones.

That narrows their good options to virtually nil.