Old Firm are the only serious rivals to each other in a Premiership where third place to the rest represents glorious successIf we are to assume a suitable element of normality will have returned by May, any Celtic celebration of a 10th Premiership title in succession will be quite the sight. Less is more has never applied to the Old Firm, especially where the making of history is concerned. Celtic will begin their season on Sunday as the legitimate favourites to become the first Scottish club to deliver 10 in a row.Inside Scottish football’s parochial cauldron, that achievement is a key theme to the point where it is already all-consuming. Can Steven Gerrard – who hasn’t won a trophy in...
Scotland’s big two merrily portray themselves as global powerhouses so let’s leave the superlatives over reaching last 32Incongruous though it feels to state Celtic and Rangers can be happy, mutual cohabitors anywhere, the Europa League has supplied the perfect backdrop as a domestic title race – for now – rumbles on. The Old Firm’s progression to the last 32 of Europe’s second-tier domestic competition has left supporters and supposedly neutral onlookers grasping for superlatives. We’ll be subject to a few more days of this yet.Steven Gerrard can be forgiven giddy analysis, given it arrived in the immediate aftermath of Rangers’ 1-1 draw against Young Boys. It is, Gerrard insists, a “magnificent achievement” for his team to reach the knockout phase...
The Liverpool legend has given his side hope and is looking for his first trophy as a manager in the Scottish League Cup finalIt would be natural for Celtic supporters to have spent recent days in a state of apprehension. For the prospect of their domestic dominance being halted by their Old Firm rivals Rangers is galling. Were Aberdeen, Dundee United or Motherwell to end Celtic’s consecutive trophy haul, which currently stands at nine, there would be joy for the underdog and widespread shock. If Rangers break the spell, the mutual impact would be considerable. For all that Celtic should be the favourites heading into Sunday’s Scottish League Cup final, a Hampden Park showpiece likely to be more intense, and...
Celtic’s interim manager has secured an eighth straight title and looks the right man to target 10 in a row – but there are recruitment questions once the celebrations are overCeltic’s retention of Scotland’s Premiership, with two games to spare, makes a mockery of the notion – prevalent after Rangers won an Old Firm game on 29 December – that their domestic dominance might end any time soon. The rush to frame a title race – involving Celtic and Rangers only, of course – remains a desperately predictable business. Celtic remain, by a considerable distance, the finest team in Scotland, with more than enough resource to ensure that continues.To many, praising Celtic for winning the league – accomplished with their...
The midfielder was the Merseyside club’s most consistent attacking threat for a decade and dazzled in GlasgowIf there is a phrase that sums up Steve McManaman’s time at Real Madrid, a four-year spell in which the Spanish club won La Liga and the Champions League twice apiece, it was perhaps the one delivered by an unlikely source. “El socio del todos” – “a partner to everyone on the pitch”– is how Johan Cruyff described the Merseyside-born Madridista, and he meant it neither sarcastically nor begrudgingly.Cruyff’s assessment was instead genuine and warm-hearted, underlining the understated yet important role the midfielder played in Madrid’s success at the start of the millennium, linking defence to Galácticos attack. This was the era of Raúl,...