I’ve seen this fixture on Sunday referred to in a lot of different ways, but one of the more unusual ones is that it’s some sort of match for bragging rights. And I’m just curious—having read that—what exactly the Ibrox club, should they happen to win it, thinks it will have to brag about. Let’s think about that for a second.
On the podcast last night, all three of us were talking at the end, as we always do, about Celtic’s next fixture. And I said that I had to decide whether I actually cared before I could properly analyse it.
Even a day later, I still don’t know how much I actually care. I’m with Cameron Carter-Vickers on this one. We don’t have anything to prove. We won the title. It’s over. It’s done. It’s 55. It’s four in a row. It’s a settled issue. As far as the league campaign goes, that’s all that matters. That’s the important thing.
This is not a terribly important game.
I cannot think of it as one. I cannot treat it as one. I simply cannot go there in my head and consider this a match of any real consequence at all.
And it’s not only that the title race is over and everyone knows who the winner is. It’s not just that this feels like an additional round in a boxing match that has already been called. There is literally nothing to play for on their side of it. There are no issues left to settle across the city.
Brendan Rodgers will be at Celtic next season, building on the work he’s done this season and last. Barry Ferguson, if he’s at Ibrox at all, will be a passive observer. He will not be in the dugout. He will not be manager.
When we last left Ibrox, having lost that game, I said that it didn’t matter what we did in the subsequent match. Because no one would be able to say that it was a continuation of the Clement-Rodgers feud, and that Clement had suddenly gotten the best of him. Because I knew—and said so at the time—that Clement wouldn’t be manager by the time that game came around.
By the same token, although we don’t have a clue what the Ibrox operation will look like by the end of the summer (although I suspect it won’t look terribly different than it does now), we know one thing for certain: Barry Ferguson and his management team will not be there. So this doesn’t feel like something that feeds into the summer narrative.
It allows Ferguson to walk a little taller and feel a little bit better about himself—about the job he didn’t get. But who cares about that except him? Even for him, there’s nothing really consequential at stake here.
This wouldn’t be the first time they’ve won the final derby of the season and gone into the summer feeling pretty good about it.
Bragging rights? What’s that worth in terms of silverware? Nothing, right? It’s not worth a thing. It doesn’t get them a place in the Champions League in front of us. It doesn’t suddenly take one trophy off us and give it to them. Bragging rights for the summer is a nice idea, but it’s one that ends a little under three weeks from now—when we go to Hampden and win the treble.
So yeah, I’m having trouble with this one, because I can’t decide whether I care or not. I care in the context of having lost two games in a row to the same team and not wanting to lose a third. But I would feel that way no matter who the team was. I want to see us win every game.
I don’t like to see us losing any match, so naturally I won’t be happy if we leave Ibrox without three points. But I’m certainly not going to buy into this narrative nonsense that it will change anything or have any real-world impact.
It may lead to questions being asked of Brendan Rodgers—and those questions will be wholly legitimate—but as he won’t be facing Ferguson next season, I’m not even sure they matter. Except in terms of whether Rodgers is willing to learn, and change, and adapt. And if he isn’t, then on his own head be it. Because while I don’t think this will have any material impact on his time at Celtic, it will certainly be something people consider when he wants to make his next career move.
I actually find this whole thing a little bit surreal. We’re going to Ibrox as champions. We’ll get no guard of honour. We’ll get no respect for the title that we’ve just won. But they’ll play Simply The Best over the tannoy.
And when you’re so far up your own backside that you’re doing something like that with no sense of irony and your rivals on the brink of a treble, then I understand why they think there are some bragging rights to be had here. I understand why they might believe there’s some massive psychological advantage to be gained with a win. I just don’t know why anyone else cares, or believes it, or thinks that way.
We talk all the time about bragging rights in the same way we hear about the moral high ground and other such fluff and nonsense.
In the end, it’s all absolutely meaningless—in the same way winning the Close Season Cup is absolutely meaningless. What matters is what happens on the pitch. What matters is what you do when the chips are down. And all that counts at the end of any campaign is the league table.
Do I think we’ll win at the weekend?
Yes, of course I do. We’re the best side in the country. If we go and play according to our level, we will win comfortably. Do I think the result matters one way or another? No, I don’t. It doesn’t. It’s a win that would be nice to get. A nice little bauble to hang on the Christmas tree. But at the end of the day, the league table is the ultimate reflection of who won and who lost the battle. And it already does.
We haven’t just beaten them this season, we’ve shattered them. They are on the brink of having to rebuild their entire club because of the damage we’ve wrought—this campaign and in previous years. Bragging rights don’t mean a damn thing. You don’t get one extra goal or one extra point for them. They’re a momentary salve. A little bit of 24-hour feelgood. Nothing more than that.
A treble, on the other hand?
Tedious it might be for the losers, but that definitely means something alright.
This weekend is a win – win game for us. Win and we are 20 points ahead of them. Draw, and we stay 17 pts ahead. Lose, and we are still out of their reach at 14pts ahead of them. Regardless of the score, we can and should, laugh at their utter irrelevance.
A win is always nice, but we are in the privileged position of being able to laugh, should they record a meaningless victory. Neither them nor us has a meaningful league fixture left this season. Brendan has resorted to setting scoring targets to keep our Bhoys motivated until the cup final. Bazza on the other hand, finds himself locked in a nightmare and his alarm clock won’t be going off for another 3 or 4 weeks.
While everything in this article makes sense and is entirely logical I cannot believe for a moment the manager would buy into this. We should not be contemplating such blaise thoughts for a moment. The forces of darkness will be bolstered by beating us three times out of four, we should not give them any encouragement but put our foot on their neck by reminding them why we are the champions.
Better we give them a going over.
Get them pumped
Fuck that !!! Losing for a third time against that dross will be fucking embarrassing full stop.Surely a little pride has to come into it !!! I know where yer coming from, bragging rights mean fuck all but professional and personal pride surely does. They may not be Rangers but they’re still fucking huns and we should hang our heads if we don’t get a result and I’ll take a draw if not the win. Champions should beat that crap.
Celts with 3 to spare.
Meant to say that the treble hasn’t been won yet, it should be and hopefully it will be but let’s leave the assumption of winning at the door.
We are Celtic, not the huns
P.s Absolutely love the trinity blogs, couldn’t do without them, keep up the great work folks x
The Huns will start with the high press as they have previously , it’s a dead rubber nothing at stake except bragging rights
Hopefully Rodgers nails it this time though and will change tactics , long ball out to the wings and barry the biatch with his hun core will have their plans blown out of the water !! when their plan fails we can resort to playing out from the back at our ease , we need this win just to prove the manager has adjusted to their obvious
Over the top to our speed merchants as well is another worthwhile tactic in ma humble opinion…
But will Brendan change tack or not –
I certainly hope so as being schooled yet again by Fergushun will be a fuckin shameful embarrassment of titanic proportions for sure !
Hate to admit it, but I really, really want to beat them. I know in my brain it doesn’t matter a damn, but in my heart I want to win this game.
I’ve said it twice this season, match their intensity in the 1st half hour and then our superior skill will win the game. In both of those games we didn’t deal with their high press and intensity, hopefully we will on Sunday.
I’m the same, the team that’s wants it more will win and if we match their intensity early our class will show. If we do lose, it doesn’t mean much and I’ll be 100% confident of at least a 3-0 win in the first derby of next season but I’d thoroughly enjoy watching us play well and hammer them on Sunday too.
Personally, wouldnae put it past their coachin staff, tae encourage them puttin 1 or 2 of our key players out the game for the final. Obviously hope ahm wrong and will probably ruffle a few feathers here, tho unless we find a way tae deal with their strength in midfield, imo ah can see them gettin joy again. They’ve sussed how tae approach us last 2 games and its worked out for them. We’ve better quality players in mid aye, nae doubt about that, tho right now they have bigger diggers. They put 5 in their mid, we play out from the back and they quickly shut us down. Its worked last 2 games for them. Find a way tae nullify, or match that and we’ll get a result.
This game is not meaningless we are only giving ourselves an excuse of we lose.
It is not acceptable to lose three league games in a row to them.
We have to prove we have the best team.
James:
I totally disagree with you. especially as i’m putting £50 on a 6-0 Celtic victory. And i stopped gambling 20 years ago, apart from the very odd bet on the grand national.
I really want them to suffer and suffer badly, I don’t know what prise I’ll get hopefully 10/1 or better. I’ll never forget years ago when my wife of now 51 years worked in the bookies at the time. I was skint and asked her for a £1 to bet on trap 6 at the dogs, Which she refused.
Subsequently it won with ease at 12/1 her reason for not giving me the £1 (now remember she worked at the bookies) was because she thought it carried more weight. than the other dogs. and I kid you not. she was the blaughing stock for several weeks.
Banter of course. ?
Have to agree with the folks here who are voicing that this is an important game. If we were sitting 1-2 against any other team in the league it would not be accepted to lose again & it should be the same for this.
Them beating us 3 times in a season is also embarrassing given how often we subject them to the claims there players are shite. If they are that shite then they wouldn’t be laying a glove on us. It’s the arrogance that will one day let them back in. We don’t take them seriously & I understand that but we have to. These are the biggest games of there season. They will give it there all to win it.
Taking 9 points off of us whilst also losing the league by 15 or so points also gives potential for all the media guffs to play the narrative of we didn’t win the league Rangers inconsistent form lost them it because they H2H had the better of us.
We can play it off as we beat them in the SC final last season & beat them on penalties in the LC final this season but other than parkhead at the start of the season they have matched us in every game over recent times.
Yes we’ve come out on top in the end but we couldn’t have any complaints if they had beaten us based on performances.
I’m all for calling out there poor side but we should be just as willing to acknowledge the weaknesses shown in our team when we play them. It’s not good enough, the old firm is gone but the rivalry is still there.
The club maybe don’t care but I can guarantee fans who have friends who are supporters of Ibrox don’t want to be hearing about losing 3 times to them in a season. We can kid on it doesn’t bother us but if it doesn’t actually bother us it’s arrogance of entitlement. I’m all for refusing the survival lie but in reality nobody outside of scottish football cares about that & it just looks immature to point blank refuse to acknowledge stuff. Like kids in a playground not speaking to someone because they are full of cooties.
If they are taking the derby more seriously than us then they will have more success in it. It’s as simple as that. We have to acknowledge it’s the toughest game domestically even if we don’t want to acknowledge they are Rangers of old. We have to acknowledge they see it that way & play it that way so we are best prepared for the game
We have one game left that matters and that’s the Cup Final, everything else is irrelevant. Simple question to those that want to prioritise a game against TRFC – would you trade a win and Maeda the. being out for 4 months with an injury he picked up or a loss and Champions League qualification with a fit Maeda?
If we as Celtic want to grow and become more of a European team then we need to leave the parochial nonsense behind us and realise we are better than that.
And we also need to start playing more youth players in our domestic cup games to give them a pathway to the first team and a reason to hang around.