Celtic avoided Riga-mortis in Latvia, but the pulse is weak & Lennon’s got 3 weeks to sort it
Neil is facing defining spell that could make or break his 10-in-a-row quest
For the first time in the history of our game punters are more valuable commodities than players.
For the simple reason that the coronavirus pandemic has proved that the Scottish footbal l economy is unsustainable without supporters turning up in substantial numbers on a weekly basis.
The likes of Ryan Kent and Odsonne Edouard are all very well in their way – but Rangers and Celtic can’t afford to keep them on a long- term basis unless Joe and Josephine Bloggs are allowed to pass through a turnstile sometime soon. Very soon.
Otherwise the players are only of value as outgoing transfers to compensate for the Covid-19 shortfall in the clubs’ accounts.
The people who were once described as the lifeblood of the game could now be put down as the cause of its death on the doctor’s certificate. And through no fault of their own.
But fans don’t need to be inside grounds in order to rock them to their foundations.
Enforced non- at tendance leading to financial ruination is one thing.
Reputational damage caused by poverty of performance is another thing altogether.
Celtic avoided Riga-mortis in Latvia on Thursday night – but the pulse is weak and the patient is in intensive care.
Hoops boss Neil Lennon faces three defining weeks, starting with this afternoon’s league game against a tough Hibs side.
The manager has to protect the Holy Grail of 10- in- a- row and avoid the unholy row that would follow the loss of European football altogether.
Whenever Celtic are expelled from the Champions League the club’s apologists say budget constraints compared to the cont inent ’ s aristocracy mean they are really a Europa League team.
What level are you at if you fail to qualify for the Europa League?
And from this distance the tie against Sarajevo in Bosnia on Thursday is hanging by a thread.
Meanwhi le, Rangers went to a proper football country in midweek and wiped the floor with Willem II in the Netherlands.
The only downside to that result for the fans is that i f Steven Ger rard k e e p s a chie v ing eye- catching results in Europe, home and away, someone will try to lure him from Ibrox whi le disregarding zero success on the trophy f r ont at domestic level.
But that is a work in progress this season.
You couldn’t bet on a side as unconvincing as Celtic getting all three points against Hibs whi le they totter from one narrow squeak to the next.
Easter Road boss Jack Ross has the potential to be their worst nightmare a week after putting a spoke in Rangers’ wheel by strong-arming his way to a draw against them at Easter Road. The Masters degree graduate in economics from Heriot Watt University looks as if he puts as much thought into what he wears on the touchline as he does over who plays on the park for him.
But Ross is definitely more manager than mannequin and today could be another significant turni ng poi nt i n the title race.
Rangers play Motherwell today after the Steelmen’s Euro exit to Hapoel Beer Sheva in midweek.
It i s a lmost impossible to think Rangers, following the scale of thei r triumph on Thursday, could fail to go four points ahead of Celtic at the top of the table this lunch-time before Lennon’s side kick off later today.
Gerrard can, for whatever reason, sometimes look more pained than he did on the night in Istanbul when the Liverpool side he was captaining were three goals down to AC Milan in the Champions
Leag ue Final . Scott A r f ield ’ s post- match demeanour af ter he missed a sitter that might have won the game against Hibs last weekend veered between apologetic and apoplectic.
The burden of expectation on players and management at Celtic and Rangers this season is obviously horrendous. Ten in a Row, the winning of it or the prevention of it, has put the weight of the world on each club’s shoulders.
But you wouldn’t need to be a behavioural psychologist to assess which side is going into today’s matches in a more optimistic frame of mind. And if Celtic were playing Rangers tomorrow, rather than October 17, I know who my money would be on. That’s why the next three weeks wi l l def ine what the remainder of the season looks like for a Celtic manager whose analysis of his team’s displays grows increasingly at odds with how his supporters see them.
bet on You couldn’t a win Celtic getting while against Hibs from one they totter narrow squeak to the next