Celtic v Rangers - The Big Day Loometh
Article by Jim Payne
Subscribe to the e-Football Podcast For FREE!
Celtic go into this coming Sunday’s league cup semi-final of the League Cup back on top of the league after victories over Motherwell and Ross County whilst Aberdeen drew its only match at McDiarmid Park with St Johnstone.
The Celts played very well during a 4-0 win over Motherwell against opponents who look to be sliding towards the relegation trapdoor and whilst ‘Well was poor Celtic played some very slick football with each excellent goal being better than the one that preceded it. It was good also to see Swedish right back Mikael Lustig return in the second half and looking as good as he ever has with his two goals being an unexpected bonus. Overall, this was Celtic’s most convincing performance at Celtic Park this season by some distance.
Saturday’s game in Dingwall was much tighter with only a deflected Kris Commons’ shot early in the second half separating the teams. Celtic dominated territorially but without the injured duo Stefan Johansen and Antony Stokes and with Leigh Griffiths moved out of the main striking role to accommodate the increasingly ineffectual Guidetti Celtic did not create much with some of the long range shooting being atrocious. County are at the bottom of the league but look far from the worst team I have seen this season as they defended stubbornly and gave Celtic no time to settle in midfield although they rarely threatened to score. Overall, Ronny Deila will be happier with the result than the performance as Celtic go into a game awaited eagerly by many.
Celtic’s opponents in the semi are fellow Glasgow side Rangers and it would be nice to just discuss what may or not happen in the game itself. It is though impossible for me to ignore some of the wider issues that surround this particular match. This has the potential to be an extraordinary and nasty day. I shall deal with the actual game itself to begin with.
The Celts find themselves more overwhelming favourites than they or Rangers ever would have been in the days before the original Rangers passed from this life to the next on those occasions the two biggest clubs in Glasgow met. Celtic sit top of the league whilst Rangers are thirteen points behind Hearts in the division below Celtic so that the Hoops deserve their favourite tag but this has the potential to be a more intriguing football match than many in both sets of support believe.
It is worth remembering that Celtic had a terrible record in the League Cup against the original Rangers going back to the mid-70s and in addition the Hoops have lost 8 times against lower league opponents in cup ties since 1994 including a dismal home loss to Morton in last season’ s League Cup. Celtic’s results have, domestically, been very good since an unexpected loss to Hamilton Accies in early October but performances have been very mixed with the last two games being perfect examples of the inconsistency of Ronny Deila’s team. The team lacks consistent creativity in midfield and has a tendency to run out of ideas if it does not score early and although Celtic could overwhelm their opponents if they do get that early goal there must be a temptation for Rangers to sit in and try to stifle Celtic with their likeliest means of scoring surely being as a result of something following a corner or free kick. Another tactic they may use is to clatter Celtic’s midfielders and wingers early on and hope that the referee, Craig Thomson, is in a lenient mood. This might seem like a highly dubious tactic but, trust me, it is one that was often used in Glasgow derbies of the past. If Celtic fans reading this do not like this assessment of what will happen I would counter by saying that of course I think Celtic is a far superior team to their opponents and if we play as we did against Hearts in two cup ties this season we shall win easily but we do actually need to go to Hampden on Sunday not believing we are already in the final. Rangers looked abysmal the most recent time I saw them when they lost 4-0 to Hibernian in Edinburgh and are in a real mess off the park but I would be surprised if they are not ‘up’ for it. Celtic has had better players than it has at the moment who have not so much frozen as melted in the ferocious atmosphere of the big Glasgow Derby so Deila has to make sure every player is in the right place mentally as well as physically or Celtic fans will be calling for his neck and that of Peter Lawwell the club’s Chief Executive before it gets dark on Sunday.
The ‘ferocious atmosphere’ is likely to be even worse this Sunday than the games were before Rangers went under. That many of us believe that Rangers are not even the same club is something that the Celtic fans are likely to remind Rangers fans of on Sunday and whilst many ‘Gers fans will shrug their shoulders quite a few will not be so philosophical. The most likely reaction will be a stream of songs denigrating Catholics and/or the Irish which will be of dubious legality and if that is the worst that happens then quite a few people will be mightily relieved.
I was never that keen on the ‘Old Firm’ games as some liked to call them. The matches were admittedly usually quite exciting- some were rather more than that- but the atmosphere in the ground was rancid. Away from the stadium A & E departments of most hospitals in the central belt would be overworked as they were flooded with victims of assaults carried out because they (the victim) supported the ‘wrong’ team whilst anecdotal evidence suggested that incidents of domestic violence increased on such occasions. I am at a genuine loss as to why anyone would wish this to be back in our lives and factoring in the Rangers’ fans sense of persecution – many Celts already suffered from this complaint- this has the potential to be a bad day and serious trouble is possible regardless of the outcome. It is not as simple as saying it will be quieter if Rangers wins although I know many Celtic fans who believe that. I do not. That was always the thing about the old derbies- you could have a stormy match in which one or other team won with a late, protested, goal and things would be relatively quiet whilst a thrilling draw in which honour was shared could nevertheless lead to mayhem. If the matches were unpredictable on the field off it logic often did a Lord Lucan.
Those who want these affairs brought back strike me as being people who wish it was the past. A past when the two teams were of the highest class – this was the case through much of the 60s and early 70s- and with both sets of supporters being comfortable with their apparently allotted roles. Celtic fans thrived on being seen as being the team of the underdog, the oppressed Irish Catholics who had to beat the odds to win whilst Rangers flourished because they were in their own eyes the masters, the establishment club and ‘the People’. Although Celtic and Rangers still, mainly, draw their supports from the same demographics that they always did nobody can seriously believe that Celtic with its former cabinet ministers and Tory peers on its board is the club of the underdogs whilst Rangers are now the third best team in Glasgow and the less said about the composition of the Ibrox board the better. Many of those in the media currently celebrating that this obnoxious fixture is to be played will of course be the first to condemn it if things get out of hand. They will though condemn both clubs and sets of supporters equally irrespective of who has been more culpable- there are audiences and readerships that are not to be offended. And then the next time the teams meet it will be the ‘greatest club game in the world’ again. It is not and has not been for decades. It is much that holds Scotland and most specifically Glasgow back. It is an anachronism.
I obviously hope Celtic win (and expect us to do so) but equally I hope that my and many others’ worst fears about the occasion do not come to pass. I shall be glad when it is over. But if I can shake this cold off I will be there.
© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
Subscribe to the e-Football Podcast For FREE!
Celtic go into this coming Sunday’s league cup semi-final of the League Cup back on top of the league after victories over Motherwell and Ross County whilst Aberdeen drew its only match at McDiarmid Park with St Johnstone.
The Celts played very well during a 4-0 win over Motherwell against opponents who look to be sliding towards the relegation trapdoor and whilst ‘Well was poor Celtic played some very slick football with each excellent goal being better than the one that preceded it. It was good also to see Swedish right back Mikael Lustig return in the second half and looking as good as he ever has with his two goals being an unexpected bonus. Overall, this was Celtic’s most convincing performance at Celtic Park this season by some distance.
Saturday’s game in Dingwall was much tighter with only a deflected Kris Commons’ shot early in the second half separating the teams. Celtic dominated territorially but without the injured duo Stefan Johansen and Antony Stokes and with Leigh Griffiths moved out of the main striking role to accommodate the increasingly ineffectual Guidetti Celtic did not create much with some of the long range shooting being atrocious. County are at the bottom of the league but look far from the worst team I have seen this season as they defended stubbornly and gave Celtic no time to settle in midfield although they rarely threatened to score. Overall, Ronny Deila will be happier with the result than the performance as Celtic go into a game awaited eagerly by many.
Celtic’s opponents in the semi are fellow Glasgow side Rangers and it would be nice to just discuss what may or not happen in the game itself. It is though impossible for me to ignore some of the wider issues that surround this particular match. This has the potential to be an extraordinary and nasty day. I shall deal with the actual game itself to begin with.
The Celts find themselves more overwhelming favourites than they or Rangers ever would have been in the days before the original Rangers passed from this life to the next on those occasions the two biggest clubs in Glasgow met. Celtic sit top of the league whilst Rangers are thirteen points behind Hearts in the division below Celtic so that the Hoops deserve their favourite tag but this has the potential to be a more intriguing football match than many in both sets of support believe.
It is worth remembering that Celtic had a terrible record in the League Cup against the original Rangers going back to the mid-70s and in addition the Hoops have lost 8 times against lower league opponents in cup ties since 1994 including a dismal home loss to Morton in last season’ s League Cup. Celtic’s results have, domestically, been very good since an unexpected loss to Hamilton Accies in early October but performances have been very mixed with the last two games being perfect examples of the inconsistency of Ronny Deila’s team. The team lacks consistent creativity in midfield and has a tendency to run out of ideas if it does not score early and although Celtic could overwhelm their opponents if they do get that early goal there must be a temptation for Rangers to sit in and try to stifle Celtic with their likeliest means of scoring surely being as a result of something following a corner or free kick. Another tactic they may use is to clatter Celtic’s midfielders and wingers early on and hope that the referee, Craig Thomson, is in a lenient mood. This might seem like a highly dubious tactic but, trust me, it is one that was often used in Glasgow derbies of the past. If Celtic fans reading this do not like this assessment of what will happen I would counter by saying that of course I think Celtic is a far superior team to their opponents and if we play as we did against Hearts in two cup ties this season we shall win easily but we do actually need to go to Hampden on Sunday not believing we are already in the final. Rangers looked abysmal the most recent time I saw them when they lost 4-0 to Hibernian in Edinburgh and are in a real mess off the park but I would be surprised if they are not ‘up’ for it. Celtic has had better players than it has at the moment who have not so much frozen as melted in the ferocious atmosphere of the big Glasgow Derby so Deila has to make sure every player is in the right place mentally as well as physically or Celtic fans will be calling for his neck and that of Peter Lawwell the club’s Chief Executive before it gets dark on Sunday.
The ‘ferocious atmosphere’ is likely to be even worse this Sunday than the games were before Rangers went under. That many of us believe that Rangers are not even the same club is something that the Celtic fans are likely to remind Rangers fans of on Sunday and whilst many ‘Gers fans will shrug their shoulders quite a few will not be so philosophical. The most likely reaction will be a stream of songs denigrating Catholics and/or the Irish which will be of dubious legality and if that is the worst that happens then quite a few people will be mightily relieved.
I was never that keen on the ‘Old Firm’ games as some liked to call them. The matches were admittedly usually quite exciting- some were rather more than that- but the atmosphere in the ground was rancid. Away from the stadium A & E departments of most hospitals in the central belt would be overworked as they were flooded with victims of assaults carried out because they (the victim) supported the ‘wrong’ team whilst anecdotal evidence suggested that incidents of domestic violence increased on such occasions. I am at a genuine loss as to why anyone would wish this to be back in our lives and factoring in the Rangers’ fans sense of persecution – many Celts already suffered from this complaint- this has the potential to be a bad day and serious trouble is possible regardless of the outcome. It is not as simple as saying it will be quieter if Rangers wins although I know many Celtic fans who believe that. I do not. That was always the thing about the old derbies- you could have a stormy match in which one or other team won with a late, protested, goal and things would be relatively quiet whilst a thrilling draw in which honour was shared could nevertheless lead to mayhem. If the matches were unpredictable on the field off it logic often did a Lord Lucan.
Those who want these affairs brought back strike me as being people who wish it was the past. A past when the two teams were of the highest class – this was the case through much of the 60s and early 70s- and with both sets of supporters being comfortable with their apparently allotted roles. Celtic fans thrived on being seen as being the team of the underdog, the oppressed Irish Catholics who had to beat the odds to win whilst Rangers flourished because they were in their own eyes the masters, the establishment club and ‘the People’. Although Celtic and Rangers still, mainly, draw their supports from the same demographics that they always did nobody can seriously believe that Celtic with its former cabinet ministers and Tory peers on its board is the club of the underdogs whilst Rangers are now the third best team in Glasgow and the less said about the composition of the Ibrox board the better. Many of those in the media currently celebrating that this obnoxious fixture is to be played will of course be the first to condemn it if things get out of hand. They will though condemn both clubs and sets of supporters equally irrespective of who has been more culpable- there are audiences and readerships that are not to be offended. And then the next time the teams meet it will be the ‘greatest club game in the world’ again. It is not and has not been for decades. It is much that holds Scotland and most specifically Glasgow back. It is an anachronism.
I obviously hope Celtic win (and expect us to do so) but equally I hope that my and many others’ worst fears about the occasion do not come to pass. I shall be glad when it is over. But if I can shake this cold off I will be there.
© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
No comments: