Aberdeen will face the Ibrox club at home tomorrow night, and for the club across the city I think that’s a very significant game for them. I think it’s more important than the coming one against us. I think it’s the biggest game they’ll face this season.
The reason why is simple; they and Aberdeen will increasingly come to challenge each other for the second spot. The Ibrox club is well clear of them at the moment, but Aberdeen intends to grow as a club and they should be challenging for second every year.
What a lot of people fail to consider is that a genuine challenge from outside Glasgow could emerge much more easily than at first glance.
The only thing that has to happen is for a team to emerge which can consistently beat all the other sides in the league outside of our city. If that happens they are in a genuine race and can be considered a real threat.
But that threat will be for second place rather than first.
At least in the beginning. Aberdeen had a chance to cement the second spot before and they flogged it. But even with someone like Goodwin in charge – and he’s awful – they should still have that ambition.
The Ibrox club has existed now for years on the financial dope of directors loans and other artificial enhancements.
They are not a major threat to us when stripped of that extraneous funding.
I don’t believe they would be able to maintain a serious title challenge if they had to do it on a break-even basis, as increasingly it looks like they’ll have to.
That puts them not only miles behind us but within range of a canny opponent with the ambition to realise this moment for what it is. Aberdeen will not overhaul the Ibrox club this season, but if they win tomorrow night the gap between Ibrox and third will be less than the one between their club and ours even if we don’t win the following evening.
That’s what the media refuses to consider, but it should be at the forefront of thinking at Pittodrie.
They can put down a marker. If they have the guts for it.
There are a lot of relevant factors involved at Pittodrie , tomorrow night . Aberdeen’s tactics , the referee , the ubiquitous the Rangers penalty , the inevitable Aberdeen player being sent off , if things are turning pear shaped for the visitors , Aberdeen’s bottle ,who the VAR adjudicators are ,etc ,etc . With the Rangers under pressure to win at all costs , will it be won morally or by hook or by crook …..Watch this space …
Under normal circumstances, I’d expect the little Duk guy to dive in the box and get a penalty for Aberdeen. He dived on three occasions against us the other day and to be fair to the ref, he only swallowed it once. Unfortunately, Sevco don’t get penalties awarded against them, so could be an interesting evening for the VAR.