Sport
Celtic threaten to crash their bottle in Rangers battle 13 years in the making
Rangers manager Philippe Clement refuses to flinch as Celtic blink first in what could potentially be the closest title race in 13 years.
Since Rangers’ financial collapse in 2012, Celtic have enjoyed almost complete domination over their rivals domestically save for the Ibrox side’s glorious 55 triumph in 2021.
But even then Rangers romped to the title undefeated with a gap of 25 points come the final whistle as 10IAR hungry Celtic fans had their hearts broken and the Gers completed the journey back to the top.
But for the first time since Kyle Lafferty’s seven minute Rugby Park hat-trick broke Celtic hearts before many had even taken their seats at Parkhead in 2011, there’s a feeling this one is going to go down to the wire.
Philippe Clement refuses to flinch in title battle
With Celtic drawing 1-1 with Aberdeen at Pittodrie, Rangers’ 3-0 victory over Livingston means the Gers are now within three points of their Old Firm rivals with a game in hand.
It means that really for the first time in the post-2012 era of Scottish football, Rangers and Celtic are set to go toe-to-toe in a test of bottle, quality, and concentration.
But whilst Rangers are a focused and determined unit under Philippe Clement, the nerves are very much jangling at Celtic Park with a distinct lack of unity evident in the stands, pitch, dugout and boardroom.
Philippe Clement has proven himself a shrewd operator with the Scottish press and as journalists tried to source some soundbites on a title race, the Rangers manager answered in his typical style.
“We don’t need to be busy with what others are doing or not doing,” said Clement. “We need to be busy with ourselves, be ambitious to try to win every game and to grow. To grow as a team and to grow as individuals, and all the players are busy with that.
“So there’s no difference any more about other teams playing before us and what result they have or playing after us what result they have, we are just focused with ourselves.”
Adding later: “There’s a really good team mentality now in this dressing room and I’m going to be really very tight on that, that it stays that way. Because that’s the reason why we get the results, so the moment we start to focus on others we can lose that.”
Rangers momentum builds as Celtic nerves jangle
Whilst it’s our job to analyse the situation with Rangers and the Scottish Premiership, it’s clear that no-one at Ibrox will be getting distracted.
Philippe Clement is a hard task-master and as his Rangers team starts to go up through the gears there’s genuine excitement building around this Ibrox side.
Despite a series of serious injuries, the Rangers manager has managed to foster an atmosphere of positivity at Ibrox which is in stark contrast to what’s happening at Celtic Park.
The Gers manager also touched on the returning “synergy” between players and fans at Ibrox and it’s something which is sorely lacking across the city.
The nerves are jangling massively at Parkhead and it’s because they can see Rangers are beginning to get their act together and – whisper it quietly – have some levels to go up just yet.
As Celtic fans start calling up phone-ins and conceding the title, Rangers supporters aren’t being quite so reactive with the message of Philippe Clement filtering into the Ibrox stands.
If Rangers win their game in hand against Ross County, there will be nothing between the sides in the Scottish Premiership and it will be all to play for this season.
After the best part of 13 years having it all their own way, going by the reaction you’ll forgive us for feeling that the Bhoys might just well have lost their bottle for the title battle.
