No Ibrox player will make an SPFL eleven no matter how many at Celtic are injured

Yesterday, I read with some amusement a debate about what an SPFL XI would look like right now. One of the contributors was our former player, Scott Allan, who, alongside Tam McManus, argued that such a team would have at least two players from the Ibrox club.

This, of course, is ludicrous, but hardly surprising coming, in particular, from McManus, whose commentary has often been nothing short of laughable, as various blogs have highlighted over time.

The main discussion centres on the left-back position and central defence. Even most Ibrox-supporting pundits admit that Kasper is a better goalkeeper than Jack Butland.

But the debate has now shifted to their left-back and the two vying for that position at Celtic Park.

Recently, it has expanded to include whether John Souttar would be picked ahead of one of our centre-backs in this so-called best XI.

Under any normal circumstances, this argument would be dismissed as pure fantasy and rightly ignored by anyone sane. However, we aren’t in normal circumstances. What we’re witnessing here is the desperation some people have to stay on the “right side” of the Ibrox online hate mob, and who are queasy about Celtic’s dominance over Scottish football.

They’re grasping for any excuse to inject a bit of Ibrox ‘feel-good’ into the national discourse. Hence the absurd debate about Connor Barron, and whether he could displace a Celtic midfielder from an SPFL XI—an idea so far-fetched that they’ve mostly abandoned it.

Still, they haven’t completely given up, and now they’re pushing Souttar as a candidate for central defence. The way they’ve done it is laughable. They’re exploiting Cameron Carter-Vickers’ short-term injury, arguing that Souttar deserves to be in the team in his absence. Honestly, it’s absolute nonsense. You can’t just reshuffle a best XI because one player is out temporarily.

What makes this even more amusing is that it doesn’t matter how many players Celtic have injured at any one time; there’s nobody at Ibrox who would even be worthy of stepping in for one of our backups, let alone our starters.

Even some of their own fans have admitted publicly that none of their players would make Celtic’s bench. So, this might be the dumbest argument yet.

As for John Souttar, suggesting that Carter-Vickers’ injury paves the way for him into a best XI is laughable. It’s an admission that Souttar wouldn’t displace Liam Scales, who is currently a far superior defender. Scales has shown that he’s miles ahead of Souttar, and let’s not forget that Celtic also spent £6 million on Auston Trusty, who already looks better than anyone in the Ibrox backline.

To go even further, I’d argue that Stephen Welsh is a better central defender than Souttar, and I’m not even Welsh’s biggest fan right now. Still, if other Celtic players were unavailable, Welsh would have a stronger claim to an SPFL XI spot than Souttar.

Then we come to the left-back debate, which is perhaps the most ridiculous part of this whole charade. The idea that their left-back is better than Greg Taylor, or that he’s better than Valle, is preposterous. Taylor has been the best left-back in Scotland for years. The Ibrox support has been clutching at this straw for ages, and it’s never been true, no matter how many times they’ve banged the drum on behalf of whoever they have in that position.

Taylor has proven it time and time again.

As for Alex Valle, our young Spanish left-back, his pedigree speaks for itself. A product of Barcelona’s academy, he’s been playing in Spain’s second tier, which is of a significantly higher standard than anything Ibrox’s Brazilian left-back has experienced. The notion that their player could ever reach the level at which Valle is even starting out is fanciful to say the least.

He has looked solid in every game he’s played for us. He has great defensive awareness and looks comfortable going forward. Ibrox, as always, is desperate to find a hero. But comparing Valle, with his pedigree, to someone plucked from the Cypriot league is laughable. It’s the sort of comparison only our media would push.

Both of our left-backs are better than their counterpart at Ibrox. So, even if Taylor were injured, Valle would step in and outperform the Ibrox player. This idea that their left-back is superior to anyone at Celtic is just laughable.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how much they try to manipulate the discussion to exclude Celtic players. Even if we had five or six players injured, they wouldn’t be good enough to fill the gaps. There isn’t a single position at Celtic Park where one of their players could replace ours because even our backups are superior to their starters.

Perhaps the only area where there’s room for debate is in goal, but that’s more about Schmeichel’s recent performances than the Ibrox alternative being better.

It never ceases to amaze me how far some people will go to boost Ibrox’s ego.

It’s pitiful, really, when viewed in its full context. No matter how they spin it, the simple truth remains: their squad is vastly inferior to ours. Not one of their players would even make our bench, never mind a starting XI. That’s a fact, whether they like it or not.