Jig reckons the Premiership race will go to the wire

Lee McCulloch reckons the Premiership title race will go to the wire because neither Rangers nor Celtic have experience in winning titles in their ranks.

Celts were serial winners under former boss Ange Posteocoglou while their previous time with Brendan Rodgers also saw them lift the quadruple Treble in a staggering example of dominance in Scotland. For Jig, though, the current crop of Hoops stars are not that swashbuckling squad and the majority – aside from the likes of captain Callum McGregor, Joe Hart and a few others – it’s a relatively inexperienced squad and won’t have much of an advantage over a similarly suited Ibrox outfit.

“It is so tight. Really, really tight. Rangers need everybody fit,” he said. “They have been a wee bit unlucky in the last couple of weeks with injuries, so I think it could go right to the wire. Is it a concern that so few of Rangers’ title-winners remain? Not for me. I don’t think Celtic have got much experience when it comes to going to the wire to win a league – and Rangers don’t either. That’s just the way the Scottish game has been lately. Whether that experience comes from the manager, the players in the dressing room, or the leaders in there, it’s just about keeping your composure and, most importantly, going one game at a time.”

“Now that Rangers are out of Europe, they can concentrate on Europe and their domestic form. So they have to take that positive from a negative. If Rangers do win it, it’ll be a tremendous achievement considering where they were at the start of the season. If Celtic win it, well they were expected to win it, weren’t they?

“I think the biggest positive for Rangers is the manager coming in, changing the squad, giving them confidence, togetherness, showing he can change his style of play from game to game. Depending on the state of the pitch, he might go more direct. I think it’s quite ballsy to have a manager to do that.”