When Ange was asked about the Ibrox change of manager he famously said that he was more concerned about what he was going to have for his dinner that night than he was about their new boss. When The Mooch sat down for his evening meal he would have been choking on large servings of doubt, served by Ange Postecoglou.
For all the media games, for all the confidence which oozed from The Mooch and those around him, the quality of Celtic was still enough. Even on a bad day, the gap remains nine points.
People will call this title race over.
At the very least the mad fantasy that they could “win the Old Firm games” and claw back the gap has now been held up for the farce that it always was. Even The Mooch should recognise that.
It’s now mathematically out of their hands.
Forget all the bluff, bluster and otherwise nonsense in the press … this is what matters.
We can still trip over our own shoelaces and drop this thing by the side of the road, but let’s be honest; if that happens everyone at Celtic should be down at the job centre filing for unemployment.
It’s out of the question.
The manager might not want to call it – and he’s right, of course – but there are eighteen games left and I’ve never watched a Celtic team I’m this confident can carry on until the last day without losing a game.
I cannot be alone in mentally counting down to when we can officially put ribbons on the trophy.
I think every one of us feels exactly the same way.
This might not be done and dusted, but our opponent is reeling around the ring and if this was Marquis of Queensbury rules and not a bare knuckle brawl in the back of a boozer it would have been stopped already or the towel chucked in.
Alas, poor Sevco have to soldier on until they collapse.
At this point, most of their fans just want put out of their misery.
Remember the arrogant strut of them just two years ago, when they had won a title and thought they were cock-of-the-walk?
They were “back where they belonged”, as though Norman Bates FC belongs anywhere but the nuthouse and the corpse’s clothes put back in the closet where they belong or better yet burned in a big bonfire in the garden.
This delusion is only one of the myriad number of them that the club over there suffers from.
If there’s a cure they aren’t interested.
All their grandiosity is in ashes today.
All their egotism has been for naught.
The gap between the clubs is measured in the points tallies, yes, and in the goal difference, of course, and in the quality of the players out on the pitch … but these things don’t do justice to the actual scale of what separates these sides from each other any longer.
These clubs are eons apart. We are heading towards a bright future.
They are clinging on to a past that they should have left behind.
When Sevco was born it had the chance to build something from nothing; that exciting, it’s liberating. Instead they clung to the detritus of Ibrox and made all of its problems their own.
They ported over all the hate, all the extremism, all the lunacy and every bad habit.
Had Norman simply put Mother’s clothes on the world could have left him sitting up in that ramshackle mansion overlooking that seedy motel and carried on regardless … but Mother was a killer, and so for Norman it was only natural that he continued the family business in more ways than one, and that was where all the problems came from.
And so it is today that fear and loathing stalk the halls over there, much as the stalked the Bates Motel.
Fear of reality.
Fear of Celtic marching over the horizon and leaving them as Just Another Scottish Team, reduced eventually to the level of the rest and waiting for the dreaded day when one of the rest gets smart and ambitious and grows strong.
The loathing is also directed at numerous targets; the players, the board … and at a world that seems not to care if their club lives or dies.
Not The Mooch though, although that will come.
They remember, they said, what happened in 2012 … all except the dying bit, of course, and around which they have built the most preposterous fantasies.
So much of the loathing reaches outward, for the rest of us, and as per usual that’s the wrong target for their attention.
The real problem is in the mirror, and when The Mooch is gazing into it tonight and he asks it who the fairest of them all is and it tells him Ange Postecoglou he should take it like a man and walk back into the kitchen and pour a long drink of water and remember that this was their “must win” game, their coming out party, their big home match, their road back to the title race …. and they failed.
Then he and the fans over there should start acclimating themselves to the reality of that.
Why is Goldson regularly getting away with handling the ball in his own penalty box ?
Eloquent stuff, James.
I disagree. There are still two cups to play for. If he thinks this mob can’t challenge us then he is being disingenuous. They should have won today.
They do like the help from the courrpt officals from sfa the rangers 2012. var was to help refs well thats not working sad really only in scotland no change just cheats whats new”even on a bad day and bents refs still can’t beat us .
A good point well made. James’ gloating, self-serving piece ignores several realities. Not least that we were fortunate to escape with a point. Complacency is our enemy (reference 10IAR) and today is a wake up call. We have the opportunity to put clear blue water between us and them. Do it Celtic. Do it.
How were we lucky to leave with a point? We scored two legit goals from open play and were (arguably) denied a penalty. Yes Rangers played well from 30mins in but they hardly peppered our goal. Hart only had to make one save as I recall (coming from his own ridiculous dithering). If they had won 2-1 then they would have deserved to win having been the better team over the piece BUT they didn’t hold on and it wasn’t down to luck!
Today was no wake up call – anyone who thought we just needed to turn up clearly has no football knowledge whatsoever – Ibrox was, is and always will be our most difficult fixture no matter how good or bad Rangers are!
Cause he’s a Hun Harold.
What should worry them is we were poor today and they still couldn’t beat us.
With the help of VAR incompetence they still couldn’t win.
With Brother Beaton in the middle they couldn’t defeat us.
Beale talking pish after the game about being disappointed not to be 2 points closer, doesn’t he know its 3 points for a win?? Saying the gap is no bigger, actually it is as over the last 5 games the goal difference has improved by 1 in our favour.
We weren’t great today, Forrest didn’t justify his place in starting line up, JJ was a disaster at LB and O’Riley looks like he needs a break. On the plus side CCV, Maeda and Johnston all performed well. HH
Surely there has to an article written on here about those decisions today.
Perhaps for a change of pace James can recruit Captain Obvious to pen the article. It’s not like there haven’t been dozens of such pieces written, on this site and others, in recent years. I believe the accurate phrase is ‘preaching to the choir’ at this point. Is there anything else left to say that hasn’t already been said? Serious question…
We have been flying of late and that mob have been stuttering on like a drunk man.
Yet on his first official day back we flop and let standards drop but yet just do enough to keep things interesting????
Yes folks welcome life under Lawwell pt2
shocking!!!
i despise lawwell…..but what has todays performance/result have to do with him…?
sooner juranovich is gone the better…he was shocking…terrible…and please, anyone…don’t give me the pish he was “out of position”…and the sooner starfelt is shown to the dug-out the better…..
Up against 13 ? Beaton and collum Celtic board need to ask questions.
celtic fc MUST register a complaint, in the strongest terms, about VAR……disgraceful again today….ffs
Weirdly enough, we never seemed tae recover from that fuck up from Hart that nearly gave them an equalizer. He needs his arse kicked. Starfelt for me, never comfortable in these games and gets panicked too easily. Definitely think things would’ve been different if we had Mooy & Abada on from the off. Wisnae our best day, tho still managed tae get the draw, which was undeserved if ahm bein honest.
Nonsense.
Standout in last game at Ibrox with CCV.
He had to cover for Juranovic who was absolutely garbage but that was down to Ange.
Natural left back on bench so let’s put on a guy who can’t kick a ball with his left foot.
Wholly agree. Starfelt was not bad, but he was exposed. Watch the game until Taylor goes off and he looks solid. Their penalty shows the issue in microcosm- JJ wildly out of position and not able to do his job effectively, Starfelt forced into doing something wild.
Aye thats right, ahm talkin nonsense. If you think starfelt is and has been, a reliable central defender, that’s your opinion.
Spot on King Murdy! whenever things don’t go to plan then Lawwell becomes a convenient punchbag. We failed to gain the 3 points today because we lost our composure after half an hour. Juranovic and Starfelt being the main culprits although even Hart & CCV were sloppy at times. At least CCV regained his composure and had a decent game overall. Hats off to A J at right back. Pretty solid if unspectacular debut.
Don’t really think anything went against us today but Ange putting on Juranovic instead of Bernabie was the game changer.
Big Big mistake.
Forrest instead of Abada wrong.
O’Riley should have been hooked at interval.
Plus side leaving Kyogo on but GG can leave anytime.
The reality is that is now 5 games played since the WC break and the huns have not managed to decrease the 9 point gap. As every game is played and the clock ticks down Celtic become even bigger favourites to win our 53rd Title. Bring on the joy for us and bring on the pain for THEM as we relentlessly march on to yet another League Flag. We never stop.
Starfeldt was imperious till the mibbery failed to give a foul for the orc stamping on him and, instead, gave a pen that even Boyd said wasn’t. If you think Starfeldt had a bad game then you don’t know fitbaw.
Hopefully Kogayashi will soon be replacing Starfelt, for he is not good enough to be CCV’s partner in central defence, he is indecisive and prone to error. He is not good enough for Europe and he should be a back up player to be used in an emergency situation only.
Didn’t play well, word of a virus in the camp. Still if the VAR had done his job following the simple rules and his own eyesight would have probably won 3-1 .Goldstone playing volleyball, and a foul to Celtic for Sakala standing on starfelts foot.
Will Celtic ask for an explanation or just pull the covers over their heads as usual .
Could it be worse yes lawell is back.
On lighter note will someone hire a rat to gnaw that wart off of the mooches face.( uncle buck john candy)
Rumours circulating inside Celtic Park today Ange has told the board he is off once the title is in the bag.
Apparently he can’t manage in a corrupt league and he doesn’t have the backing of the board when asking them to call out the dodgy decisions in the Celtic games.
Liewell has also spoken one to one with Ange and has let him know that the boat won’t be rocked.
Oh that’s terrible news Scud…also heard he’s taking over from Beale, who according to Sevco insiders is getting sacked for asking for money to buy players.
Big Ange says he’s willing to work with loads of crocks and old players as long he gets continued help from Var and refs.
Lawell looking to bring back his old mate Lennon.
Anyone can make up a load of pish MATE!!
Benny don’t shoot the messenger you see some fans like yourself live in denial and the board just love fans like you.
You will be the first on her crying that nothing was done by the board to keep Ange when his reasons are made public.
Scud..your preaching to a bhoy that stood outside main entrance demonstrating rather go into ground during celts for change era.
Whilst I think the board should be more transparent with the fans in how they feel regarding Var decisions, I don’t have any doubts they are making their feelings felt behind the scenes.
It may be that they will exhaust this avenue before going into full media mode.
Well here’s hoping.
Still think the Ange v lawell story a load if nonsense though.