Soccer Football - Scottish Premiership - Rangers v Celtic - Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - April 7, 2024 Rangers manager Philippe Clement before the match REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
It was Orwell, in 1984, who wrote, “In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement.” It’s a description of the mad skull section of the Ibrox support who we cover on this site over and over again.
Except the triumph part, unless you count moral victories.
Today the sound of Beautiful Sunday reverberates around this house, as the sound of booing reverberates around Dingwall and parts of the West of Scotland; pubs where grown men look downcast into their pints or glower at each other ready to unleash their pent-up fury at the first person who suggests that this league still has a “long way to go.”
It does, actually, but today the narrow advantage we seized last week by going to Ibrox and leaving with that point (not the moral victory though, alas, and how we had wanted that worthless bauble) has been turned into something much more substantial.
We now have a points lead again, and we’ve opened up a reasonable goal difference gap.
That sound you hear, above the sound of Clement grinding his teeth, is of many, many, many bottles crashing, and not even in the usual way, which is after they’ve been thrown at Celtic coaches and players. Their team cannot handle pressure at all.
We all suspected that when the heat was really on they would melt like a Mars Bar left on a radiator turned up to full, and today they were absolutely woeful.
They scored today with a flukey own goal and the obligatory penalty kick. They conceded three. They were all over the place defensively and offered very little upfront.
In the aftermath Manneken Piss actually blamed the Dundee pitch fiasco for it. I am certain more of their crazed fans who were last week linking us with that and tracing its roots to Dermot Desmond’s secret weather machine were equally outraged.
I do find their logic somewhat suspect; it gave them less time to prepare for today. Having no game. Less time to prepare. Wow. Wouldn’t they have had even less time had they actually needed to play it?
Nobody said anything that comes out of there has to make sense, folks.
That feels significant. It’s also pretty funny.
It has tickled the funny bone in a big way.
Even the sight, after the match, of a fuming Clement storming up the tunnel without acknowledging his fellow manager (although once his attention was drawn to it he made sure to give him a hug in front of the BBC). His obvious fury is hilarious.
You can only imagine the slaughtering he has given some of the players in that dressing room, particularly the serial losers.
That team of theirs reeks of defeat. Lundstram’s face when the third went in … he looked grief-stricken. I might even have felt sorry for him if I wasn’t too busy jumping about punching the air and laughing at him instead. Tavernier used the word “disappointed” or a derivation of it four times in his interview; he is absolutely scunnered. The only reason he’s sleeping at night right now is the injury to Maeda. He will not relish coming to Celtic Park anyway.
None of them will. And they still have the Dundee encounter to come, and how they lift themselves for that one is going to be the biggest test of a manager who for all the honey the media pours on him has not had much of one yet.
Don’t get me wrong, I expect they’ll win that and people will start talking about how they can build momentum again … but this one feels like a big one, it feels like an important one, it feels like the stunning blow that sets up the knockout punch.
We have to do our own part. We cannot make any mistakes. Our season has been stuttering and stop-start, but as crushing as this blow is for them it should elevate our spirits and send us to Hampden in the right frame of mind next weekend.
Now they face a tricky away trip in midweek, followed by a Hampden match against Hearts, a game I’d have expected them to win prior to recent events but which now represents a major threat.
And Dundee will, themselves, be buoyed by their top six place and by watching how easily Ross County got in behind the Ibrox defence today.
The Ibrox club and its fans are correct to be fearful of that encounter now, and of what awaits them against Hearts.
The season which offered so much – remember when they were talking about a quadruple? – now approaches an end which is shaping up to be not so much the Hollywood tear-jerker but something more akin to a David Fincher movie, with a devastating nihilistic shocker of a finish, delivered before the credits roll, the kind that leaves you stumbling out of the cinema feeling like a mugging victim. The aura of invincibility is gone.
All talk of a team destined to be champions has quieted and its up to us to keep it that way.
We are in the driver’s seat. Again. The manner of it feels consequential; we just have to keep it together and we’ll make it, and although we have stumbled almost as much as they have this season, our players have been over the course and know how to handle it, and we’re producing, in patches, the kind of football which made us formidable.
All they have now is the fear. The fear that after putting together a good run of form that it has crashed with their bottle, and that all of it has been in vain.
Nothing is more soul destroying.
Nothing is more shattering to morale and the confidence needed to be winners. Earlier in the season you would have bet on them taking something from that one even at 3-1 down, and especially with the near-certainty of a penalty to help them along the way.
But they never looked at any time as if they had the self-belief for it.
So, the fear … yes, and over the next few days it will continue to grow. With it will be the feeling that they’ve lost the initiative and are now in a fight just to stay in the race until the final weekend. If we keep winning, we can rip that from them too, at Celtic Park.
The loathing? Well as usual it is directed everywhere.
At their “failed” players, those who have done this to them again and again, who built their hopes, raised their spirits, filled them with belief and then let it all wash away like tears in the rain. Some of it is directed at Dundee, who should use that to fuel their own performance in midweek.
But their loathing really is self-loathing, and the feeling that they have been made to look like fools for their hope and their confidence, fools who have bought the Brooklyn Bridge over and over again, mugs who bought season tickets for the next campaign in a wave of euphoria about a future which we might be on the brink of snatching away.
It’s the self-abasement Orwell talked about, that last character trait of the Sevconian.
As the outstanding Paddy Power ad which came out right on full time (and which I’ve posted underneath) says, “Don’t ever change, guys.”
Celtic fans tonight…
— Paddy Power (@paddypower) April 14, 2024
very good james….as they say….”it’s the hope that’s the killer…”
we have to ensure we have no slip ups….i’m certainly not booking my seat for glasgow cross come the end of may – yet….
even tho we were excellent in the 2nd half yesterday…i just don’t trust this celtic team…
this season has been the huns best chance for a while…when u take into consideration VAR, the MIB, the celtic fc board’s lack of investment and shit recruitment team, BR and the team as a whole…and the huns STILL look as if they are the ultimate, perennial bottle merchants !!!! what a fukn shitshow of a club…
but we STILL have not won anything yet…i have no doubt BR and calmac will be hammering that into every players head…
SEVCO…the gift that keeps on giving…
They don’t have the same swagger or confidence when they don’t have one of their big hitters in black, in the middle of the park with them, it’s like not having their comfort blanket.
God love them lol HH
Good Valid Points Made Sir!
Maybe they missed Beaton today?
Even in swallow swallow they are saying the Manneken had no class going right up the tunnel at end of match. Spot on with that one!
Do you think the media are going to stop fawning over everything he says
and start asking about 4 points out of a possible 12 , 3 of those games against bottom 6 teams ?
Nah me neither
The media will not stop fawning over him (well not until they are ordered to by Bisgrove & Co. should they need him to resign rather than have to sack him)…
But – Bloody Hell, their fans ?
Drop anything v Dundee and he won’t know what’s hit him…
They (The Sevco Huns’ fans) are probably the worst in the world when it comes to losing in a close battle !
Do we know when the fixtures will be announced since the top 6 is set? Today was good but we just need focus on ourselves. Their fans are starting to turn on the manager, they’ll have the same useless lot next season except Sima and Silva. We’ll probably hear all summer, if their season fizzles out, how much they missed Danilo.
The games can’t come quick enough for us.
Manneken Piss is losing the plot. Only this morning he was saying the Dundee game being postponed disrupted there preparation but they will be prepared. (Contradicting himself) Again but he won’t be using it for any excuses. Fast forward to the end of match interviews and hey ho as sure as rain in April he”s saying the Dundee fiasco severely disrupted their plans. Again not one member of the press pulled him up. The man is slowly unraveling.
I,ve never said this before in a game concerning them,,I thought the ref had a good game,,,just saw a pig fly by,,,,,think the Hun players also knew the ref was playing fair,,could see it in their faces,,,well done county,,,never saw that result coming,,,as for the penalty,,it was one,,
I thought the same…….and saw another pig fly by too, the ref did have a good game
never ever thought I would say that .
I think Sevco will struggle against Dundee who have managed a top 6 place and will be more relaxed and ready to play football. As you James and others have said on here Sevco are not as good as they think they are and that has been proved right. without help from their friends in the Lanarkshire mafia they would be struggling to make the top four. The next five games for Celtic are cup finals lets get this over the line.
“Lanarkshire Mafia ” Interesting??
It looks like the Rangers have gained another apologist / sympathiser in the shape of John Robertson ? After Clem – on ran up the tunnel without the decency to shake his opposing manager’s hand ,or anyone else’s for that matter , someone obviously decided to mark big Pip’s card for him to say that it looked petulant and moody and he needed to make amends with a hand grip .Wee Robbo said that big Phil in doing so was a ” nice touch !” Oh ,and nothing about how Clem – on looked like a bell end for not being a sportsman in defeat in the first place ? Good old aunty Beeb …..
We need 4 wins and a draw against the bigots”and champions again but this season’s in some matches we have been poor so as they old saying one game at a time but today was very nice viewing well done RC.
Well done Ross County,
sevco fans at the end was a very enjoyable watch .
No doubt their fans reactions towards the team just added to the fragility that’s coursing through them now, adding pressure every time they play knowing full well the peepul will turn on them instantly, oh the joy!
Dingwall Race Lyrics (Not Stephen Foster Version)
[To Be Sung In The Cork Accent ]
Verse :
De Dingwall Ladies Sing Dis Song….Do-dah! Do-dah!
De Ding-Wall Grass-Pitch Five Miles Long….Oh! Do-dah-day!!
Ah’ Come Down Dah Wid Mi’ Hat Caved In….Doo-dah! Doo-dah!
Ah’ll Go Back Hame Wid A Pocket-Full O’ Tin….Oh! Doo-dah day
Oh! Doo-dah day
Chorus :-
G’wine Tae Run Ah Nicht !
G’wine Tae Run Ah Dae…!
Ah’ll Bet Mi’ Money Oan De Cantwell Band
Some- Bodie Bet Oan De Tav………….!!!!!??
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now Go Away !!
One win in their last 5 games, even with 4 penalties in each of their last 4 League games they’ve only won one. There wasn’t much difference between Goldson handling in the penalty area in the 1st half and the County player in the 2nd half, Var awards the 2nd and not the 1st no real coverage of both by the SKY editing team.
run at that defence and they’re terrified, every game is going to be hard for them as most teams will realise how weak their defence is.
There’s only one Sevco player you have to watch and that’s the Brighton loanee Sima.
Keep our eye on the prize and the Title’s ours.
NotTheDailyRectumHeadline….
DINGWALL-STAGGIES-FABULISTIC….
SEVCO-WERE-ATROCIOUS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Clement-Behind-The-Hedge : “The Chihuahas Bark….and the Caravan Move On….!!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi James
Bit of pop psychology -was on a ryanair flight yesterday to Glasgow – was in the company of some Rangers fans who were in over anxious mode -and preparing their excuses in case of defeat here are some examples
Not being able to play the Dundee game has upset the rythnmn of the team
The ref is going to be hyper vigilant not to give them a peno because of the Celtic press!
And the craziiest – Ross County are highlanders therefore they must be Jacobites -and as Jacobites were Catholics =they are going to do something to stop Rangers! I hope that lots of drink was to explain for the historical misreading of history but their fans are spooked since Ibrox and that is going to put pressure on players who have never been in a real title race
🙂 🙂 🙂
The media have been telling us for months that Sevco have the momentum. But the facts tell a different story.
Two wins from their last 7 matches, 4 points from a possible 12 in the last 4 league matches, 1 win in their last 4 home matches.
Without VAR room interventions, where they seem to have ‘Andrew as a permanent fixture, the league would be over by now, despite our patchy form.
You bang on James their bottles have crashed.
There also, needs to be questions asked about ‘Andrew’s’ currency, as he has not refereed a single match in over two years.
Andrew Dallas got a bad knee (I think) injury which essentially ended his on field refereeing career. Fortunately for him a new position was created by Crawford Allan full time VAR- coincidentally opening up within a couple of weeks and he was the standout (only) applicant.
Nothing to see here….
James could you edit the previous comment please, as there is an error. It should have read ‘1 win in their last 4 home matches’. Not league matches
Thanks
Big Wolf
Ah’ll take that any time and the gloatins only natural, tho our players cannae let it distract them. Might sound ‘cynical’, tho still a lot of work tae be done and really tough games comin up. It’s still hugely important what we dae and hopefully with nae further injuries. Stay focused the hoops.
Sevco’s performance today, carried on from their fortunate draw/‘moral victory’ against us last week.
They played as if they believed it would be a Sunday stroll and got their just desserts!!!
Ross County were excellent, and thoroughly deserved their win!
I would expect Dundee to have watched this game and get a huge lift for Wednesday.
Whether lightning can strike again, in the space of a few days, remains to be seen, but the most important thing is, it’s now firmly in our hands !
We shall retain this title and I hope we can finish this season in the style that’s befitting of a classy and ‘honest’ Celtic team !
What I like is that Celtic, on the whole, keep it real and play fair. We’re not celebrating anything yet which is only a mammoth distraction. We can take nothing for granted with this team and BR knows that and will factor it in to his preparations. Fans need to keep calm and extend support whatever is currently happening on the pitch. A bad first half can simply be inspiration for a great second half.
Well done Ross county. Happy as a pig in shite.
C’mon now bhoys get it done.
Like you predicted Jamsey bhoy the wheels are falling off the clement juggernaut and it’s beautiful I’m personally buzzing
James can you do me a favour and ask Joe hart how he can source a short sleeved goalkeepers top I got last seasons goalkeepers top in short sleeves but was told this seasons doesn’t come in short sleeves how can the Celtic shop claim to sell “official merchandise” when the only options is long sleeve and Joe never wears long sleeves
James,you say you expect them to win that game against Dundee,I like you expected them to win against Ross county,but it just shows us ,don’t expect anything.As long as we do our job Celtic Should! win this title, because this will be the sweetest win in all my 66 years being a Celtic fan.