The thing about the aftermath of any game we win against the Ibrox club is that there is always so much to catch up on in the 24 hours that follow.
There is so much reading, so much listening, and so much information to take in from all sides — both about how our fans are feeling and how theirs are too.
There’s also the media’s response to our victory and how they’re reporting on the scale of the problems across the city. This game was no exception, and in the last 24 hours, I’ve had more on my plate than I could possibly consume.
That’s why I’ve only just got around to listening to Graeme Souness’s interview. My God, that was incredible. Talk about retreating from reality at high speed! He could not have run faster away from the truth if he was going full tilt, like in his playing days.
His comments were so ridiculous that even Simon Jordan couldn’t hold back from mocking him mercilessly. Jordan used Liverpool’s storming victory over Manchester United as an analogy to pin Souness to the wall.
I have heard Souness talk rubbish before, but this was exceptional. To deny that the game was one-sided, and to claim, as Clément did, that it was closer than the scoreline suggested? Absolute lunacy! The man’s bitterness, the man’s pain, is now so acute that he can barely see straight.
Every time he gives an interview like this, he makes himself sound more ridiculous and out of touch, like a guy who is losing his marbles.
Souness is now one of those characters beyond parody. He has spent so long in his little bubble of frustration and wallowing in hatred that it has come to define him. But it wasn’t so much his comments about the game itself that were interesting; it was that he has finally had to admit there is a quality gap between the two clubs that might not easily be fixed.
He clings to the idea that the tide will turn, as it did when we stopped their ten-in-a-row against all the odds, and as they stopped ours. But he hasn’t put that in its proper context.
When we stopped their ten-in-a-row, it was because our club had rebuilt and restructured itself, and we were on the way to establishing ourselves as the main force in Scottish football. They stopped our ten-in-a-row due to a bizarre confluence of circumstances involving COVID. There is no comparison between the two scenarios. They won a couple of titles after we stopped their ten, just as we won titles after they stopped ours, but that’s where the comparison really ends.
Their club was already on its knees and at the very limits of what it could get away with by the time we stopped their ten. Our club is in the ascendant right now. We went straight back to winning titles, doubles, and trebles without missing a beat.
The dominance we enjoy right now has never been enjoyed by their club over us, outside of the years when we were finishing fourth or fifth and still struggling to get our act together before Fergus took over and transformed our fortunes.
On some level, Souness knows this. He has to. So, all this talk about how the tide will turn again? It’s rubbish, and he has to know it’s rubbish. Celtic got its act together and established a structural advantage over Rangers. Their club reacted so badly to this structural advantage in terms of spending — again, spending what they couldn’t afford and then going even further with the EBT case — that they went out of business altogether as a consequence.
But we’re not going out of business. We’re not facing imminent administration, liquidation, or the structural problems that Ibrox was facing.
We’ve established ourselves as the top club in this country. We’re so far ahead of them, and football has changed so much that they might never catch us. That is not beyond the realms of possibility. But it is beyond the realms of Souness’s imagination.
I’ll tell you what else is beyond the limits of his imagination — any scenario where the Ibrox club wins this league title. It’s incredible to hear even someone as divorced from reality as Souness now reduced to admitting that fact.
The £50 bet he has placed is not about them finishing above Celtic. It’s a £50 bet that they would finish above Aberdeen. And that’s where we stand.
That’s how much we have utterly humiliated them. Souness, who cannot bring himself to say that we were vastly better on the day, has already conceded the title. Because the gap is now that big, he’s been reduced to taking a wager on whether they can finish in second place.
Even this old hater is now moving ever closer to a genuine acceptance of this stuff. Yes, he’s still in retreat from it, but little by little he’s being forced in the direction of acknowledgment. Acceptance comes shortly thereafter.
There are seasons that destroy rival clubs, and there are games that destroy them. This is one of those days. That was one of those games.
What a remarkable world this is right now for Celtic fans.
Simon Jordan is one of the best in the business, that’s what he does, he makes people see sense, and as always he was bang on the money with his take on the match. His analysis of the glasgow derby as well as the north west derby was spot on, and if he has a point to make he certainly makes it, that’s for sure, and takes no prisoners when he is making his points, and that’s what the audience admire about him.
Couldnae believe the brassneck of souness, bitchin about how Celtic are financially miles ahead. Take it he’s forgotten about the 90’s, when Celtic were a club in turmoil and his club were spendin ridiculous amounts, that we hadnae a prayer of comin anywhere near competing with. And btw, at least the money we’re spendin now is within the rules. Another thing that shows this lot’s sheer hypocrisy, is berry of the DR sayin the supporter who gave tavernier absolute bad mouthed, dogs abuse was ‘ only saying what others are thinking’ ! Unbelievable ! This is the same mob of journos, who absolutely slaughtered and condemned the Celtic support FOR WEEKS, after their protests and behaviour in the car park. Their double standards are a fkn joke.
Not that I’ll ever financially contribute to The Scummy Daily Record Kevan neither thru purchase or even The £0.0000001 pence they get for clickbait – But even their own kith and kin – The rats in the sewers – know that they are Celtic HATERS as often reported on here and even by yourself today…
Anything to protect their beloved Sevco…
Hopefully the next set of daily circulation figures sees them slither deeper into their inevitable grave !
You give him far too much credit.i actually have doubts over his sanity.barely knows any players names, even sevco ones.Im beginning to think that by just talking about stats and stats alone I doubt he even saw the game
Yes, wasn’t he seriously ill a while back.
Hi where are the Ibrox presenters of Sportscene every time they suffer a set back they are posted missing .Same old same old.They dont want to address any negative comments about their paymasters.
Ayrshire Sevco fan Billy Dodds fronted up to do it PJ 44…
But at least he is a true Sevco and deceased ‘Rangers’ fan unlike McCann who we all know was an Inverclyde Celtic daft supporter in his younger days and also unlike Musselburgh Miller who was a well known Hibernian supporter…
That these two inexplicably chose to whore themselves to any Liebrox ‘cause’ speaks volumes of their utter lack of integrity…
Despite them promoting all things Sevco 24/7/365 proper hardline Sevco loyalists will suss them out big time despite their utterly pathetic attempts to curry favour with all things Sevco and reminiscing blindly about all things ‘Rangers’ as they were correctly known as when they were employed (as it turned out illegally) there !
Jeez oh ! – The picture caption under the headline James…
All I can think of is that old Rod Stewart song / album…
EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY !
Long may The Calvinistic Beast’s pain continue !!!
Sourness is a living example of what bitterness can do to a human being.
A salutary lesson for everyone.
Got to agree with Sophie, I think the mans in decline health wise ,
He, sa, dinosaur at bloke where fitba is concerned,, applaud his charity work mind u, but like the rest now that the dust is beginning to settle, the demands of spending money they ain’t got will start from the gullibillies and the lackeys as it usually does,,,
I think a big part of the reason for this realisation, even from those who would never have admitted it before, was the players Celtic could bring on from the bench, and then seeing them slotting in seemlessly.
I felt that the penny dropped with the board, albeit very late in the day, that just staying marginally ahead of Sevco was no longer tenable to Celtic as a business as well as a Football Club. To stay just ahead of them would hold Celtic back so much it would needlessly hurt everyone involved at Celtic Park. As James alluded to, stopping a one-horse race happening need not adversely affect Scottish Football. Brendan needs to take Celtic where he feels he can and where they deserve to be in World Football. Striding away and letting Sevco try to find a way to catch up on their own volition is the only way to go.
When the truth is brutally told it brings out the truth in others
who don’t normally display that trait, and that’s what’s happening now, with the likes of Boyd, Souness and Ferguson. Others will “follow” soon.
Sourness is now off the scale for a truthfull answer. Him and his floch are finished.Their days are over, HH the Tic
Souness is nothing but a dirty anti irish twisted biggot. The sooner he fu*ks off into the grave with the rest of his kind and sevco the happier il be. Celtic will still be there and still no 1 when that prick is long gone and forgotten about. HH .
It was comical to hear him when he reiterated the states. I can’t remember exactly but he said but if Celtic had 7 shots on target Old Firm FC had 6, Celtic had 8 corners they had 7, Celtic had 51% possession they had 49% so on and so fourth. He said there wasn’t much between the teams maybe 4 players. We would have beaten them with 4 players…..OH….he forgot to mention… Celtic won 3-0. He’s a DICK
Why does Souness act like this and say these things? Is it because he’s a paid shill of the stadium John Brown played for? A bit far fetched maybe, but did he ever clarify why he received a £30k EBT from Rangers (IL) whilst he was the manager of Blackburn Rovers?
It seems that every single part of the John Brown stadium crew is dripping in misery, self loathing and debt.
By the way, James, “But we’re not going out of business. We’re not facing imminent administration, liquidation, or the structural problems that Ibrox is facing.” Fixed that for you. 🙂