There is a trend at this point in the season which never seems to go out of fashion.
See, I use the word ironically. A trend is defined by the way it comes into, and then goes out of fashion. Just not this one. It continues because nobody ever declares it old hat, and out of date, and too ridiculous to possibly go on.
And I’ll tell you what it is; every time we win a title there are a group of people who step up and tell us that in fact there’s no gap between us and the club that came second.
I had a chat with my good friend Matthew Marr, the Celtic historian, the writer of the book “The Bould Bhoys! Glory To Their Name”, after the Ibrox club had won the COVID title where we agreed that it was almost certainly a one-off.
When we would know for sure, I wondered?
He told me that if we won the next couple of them, and a few of the domestic trophies, that we’d know. We are three titles to the good since then. We have won a double and a treble. We might yet wrap up another double in this campaign. I am hoping that Matthew himself might do a piece on this, but I think the question is answered.
I wonder how Ibrox fans feel about yet another manager telling them that in fact there’s no gap after we’ve secured yet another championship?
I would be mortified if I were in their shoes. How can any of them believe that? For Clement to say this after we’ve beaten him twice and he was lucky to snatch a draw in the other game is pathetic. He obviously has no self-awareness at all.
The non-existent gap is currently six points. It’s the tip of the iceberg.
It took Leanne Crichton of the BBC to cut through all the nonsense, all the BS, about how this hasn’t actually been a “close” title race in the sense a lot of people seem to mean when she said at the weekend that but for our December slips, we’d have won this league at a canter and that we are miles in front of them on the park.
She sees it clearly anyway.
And this in a season where we could have played so, so much better.
Others have put the apparent closeness of the race down to Jack Butland; they too have seen the writing on the wall. Without him they’d have given up a lot more points. Clement might sound daft, but even he knows this, which is why he said last night that he isn’t prepared to see Butland sold … so there goes the “transfer war chest.”
Is he playing to the gallery with this rubbish about no gap? He could be. He could also be deluded enough to believe it. He certainly comes across like that.
But this is a gallery that’s been played to before, and before, and before, and the reason for it is that the media goes along with it as though it were credible instead of complete garbage. We won a treble last year, sweeping aside all comers, and The Mooch got away with pushing this exact same line, and really that should disturb the Ibrox fans as much as anything; that Clement and his gang of cheerleaders can’t even muster something original to fob them off with.
This doesn’t just insult the intelligence of the Celtic fans, but it insults theirs too, and theirs all the more because they should be able to see through this no bother at all.
But that brings me back to that speculative question from a moment ago; how do Ibrox fans really feel about hearing the same old tired excuse over and over again?
See, if their websites were half as committed to advancing their club as we are to advancing ours, they would never let this guy away with that.
So much of the psychological makeup of that club is built around reassuring lies though, around the constant bluff and BS, and they cling to that like a comfort blanket.
More fool them if they swallow this though.
And the thing is, I know a lot of them do. They really think that if not for injuries they’d have won the title, perhaps not recognising that every team has injuries and that we’ve struggled mightily with a few of our own. What was their injury status when we beat them at Ibrox? Did Motherwell beat a weakened version of them? This is really pathetic.
You know, the longer they cling to this stuff the happier we should all be, but it’s the contempt in it which I find hard to stomach. We’ve beaten this lot again. To another title. To another major honour. And they don’t even have enough respect for that to acknowledge it properly, and yeah, it’s certainly to our benefit that they keep on doing this … which is to say nothing for the utter stupidity of arming us with even more motivation to beat them in the cup.
They never learn, and neither do their media apologists. And somehow it never stops being annoying although it does them no favours at all.
I personally think with them that they are in denial.They believe themselves superior, Their world would basically end if they faced reality. How would they cope with the fact that they are only 2 best , the WATP roar would be redundant straight up. So they will believe this crap year in year out .Heavens above they are some plonkers
Hun argues getting increasingly angry quoting and looking back to the good old EBT years. Real rangers men, “hard men” dirty bastards morelike who knew what it was all about, Souness, Ferguson, Gough, HURLOCK, et al. Presents as arrogant and entitled with a really stupid sense of superiority allied to systemic paranoia. If all else fails a wee bit of bigotry thrown in helps salve their black souls
Celtic supporter shrugs knows his club’s history and looks to the future. Onward and upward.
There is the real “gap”
Still cant forgive Neil Lennon, I had £100 on 20 in a row
The klan fleeced every year by their own board. a new orange tap with blue trim won’t help them fill the gap with the Bhoys.
As has been stated on many sites Celtic have an advantage every year on ground capacity and many other financial advantages. the rangers never seem to invest well but on occasion get lucky, Butland and the guy they sold to Ajax. The rest though have never brought them in any good sale or resell value of note.
The board have been caught keeping prices high for merchandising and costs of SB’s including having to be an elite club member.
More fool the fans. It’s like they have their memories wiped at pre-season, when they win the pre-season cup.
I fancy Dundee for a draw tonight. Klan fans on top of their team all night. Can’t wait. HH
Actually, when all is said and done, no matter what injuries were incurred, form dips etc. the harsh reality, at this stage is, that there is indeed not a lot in the title race. The gap is small and although we consider that scenario to be self inflicted, the fact remains that the huns, no matter the reasons, did push us to the limit. It was too close for my liking and the zombies, although deeply disappointed, they will still be buoyed by their efforts domestically and in Europe and dream of better days to come.
What they fail to realise though is that Celtic will undoubtedly strengthen from here on in, and the gap at present could easily turn into a chasm by the end of next season. We have them financially outgunned and if we do flex our monetary muscles before the new season begins, then there will be no living with us.
Thin Diesel can’t really say much else during season ticket renewal month. I vividly recall Liam Brady candidly admitting that Rangers were the best team in Scottish football and it went down like a cup of somebody else’s cold vomit with our fans. He definitely wasn’t pissing on our chips and telling us it was vinegar, but if you ain’t selling success in this town, you better at least be flogging optimism because pessimism and realism don’t fly off the shelves. At least it means we can all look forward to a summer of Thin Diesel adding a collection of bargain basement duds to the remnants of Ian Beale’s stillborn revolution last summer, with Jackson et al telling the gullible and deluded what world-beaters they all are. I remember trying to keep a straight face when one of their fans in the pub was extolling the quality of Caixinha’s recruitment as he regurgitated whatever guff the redtops had wrote about them. Joe Dodoo was the one he had the highest hopes for, and that didn’t exactly work out – the lad is out of the game before he’s even 29 (had to google him though). A fun summer awaits as he has to replace those leaving and try to improve on the serial losers he’s stuck with, all on what could be pretty tight budget. At least there could be Tavpen’s Testimonial to look forward to!
There seems to be some manufactured aura about their Keeper,a look back at his career there is nothing stellar about him.In fact Celtic have seen particular deficiencies in him and exploited them in recent games.And even if they did try and cash in,even £5m for him would be unachievable.their rebuild off to a bad stser
Their skint, it’s as simple as that , year after year posting massive losses even when sevco were in the champions league and the big money player sale to Ajax , still posted massive losses.
Players leaving on freedom of contract, loanees returning to parent clubs , players not fit for purpose, high earners with no resale value .
Bargain basement signings , free agents and loanees are all that they can offer for next season even if butland is sold, remember they couldn’t buy shankland in the winter window because they had no money, Grimm times ahead for the sevco peepul.
Brilliant to watch the reality that their on their arses again.
Some would say that because the city of Glasgow is so small compared with other first world cities elsewhere , that there can only be room for one club with success ? That makes perfect sense to me … entirely !
“But this is a gallery that’s been played to before, and before, and before”
And will be again, and again, and again…
And hopefully I’ll see it played to again, and again, and again for the next 46 years…
When hopefully I’ll get ma telegram from The President of an Independent and Republican Bonnie Scotland !