There is no species of fly to be found in any kind of ointment when you have beaten Celtic for the first time as Rangers manager.
Michael Beale is entitled to milk the moment after having been like a combination of a punchbag and a dartboard in recent weeks. Verbal punches have been thrown at him by his own team’s fans and darts dipped in disdain have been tossed in his direction at the same time because of Beale’s failure to win when it mattered. Especially against Celtic in league and cup matches.
Now yesterday’s events have seen him avoid any escalation of the hostility directed towards him by overcoming Ange Postecoglou before anyone else asked if he had that watershed moment in him. It’s all too late, of course, because the championship horse has bolted and Celtic have two in a row. And if Celtic had yesterday become the first team to win a league game at Ibrox this season pressure would have mounted regarding Beale’s entitlement to stay in charge.
Success has many fathers. Failure is an orphan, as an old saying goes. The origin of that is unknown but the meaning, as it applies to the manager’s situation, is self-explanatory. If Michael had failed yesterday there would have been no queue of folk willing to form a human shield and take their share of the blame along with him.
Beale would have been cast out on his own to take the flak, with not a leg to stand on. He was helped to his feet yesterday by his players’ efficiency and Celtic’s uncharacteristic laxity. Rangers took their chances and Celtic were seriously flawed at the other end of the park in that department when they weren’t being defied by Robby McCrorie.
All of this a week after Beale had said of his team that he’d never seen one as wasteful in the final third. Todd Cantwell scored while Celtic were shell-shocked by the ferocity of Rangers’ beginning to the match. And Yuki Kobayashi was still traumatised when John Souttar outmuscled him to add to Rangers’ lead before half-time. The less said about Fashion Sakala’s goal, the better for Postecoglou.
It was about strength of mind and, for once, Celtic were found wanting, which was their fault and nothing at all to do with Beale. For Postecoglou, we never stop became we never start. An agenda has been set for the summer and the argument will be that there is no gap between the sides.
The one certainty is that Celtic’s strength in depth has been called into doubt. And the one posing the question was Beale, the man with the monkey off his back. Like I say, no flies and no ointments. This is a standalone moment of satisfaction, and relief, for the manager. But I wonder if, in his deepest sub-conscious, Beale wonders what might have been if he had handled the Alfredo Morelos situation more aggressively.
The manager denounced the player for his lack of energy and commitment after a lifeless substitute appearance against Aberdeen last weekend. Yesterday’s result might have been a significant one in the league table and not just a one-off form of compensation after the horse had bolted for Rangers in that competition. Bragging rights are a poor second to trophies in the cabinet that speak for themselves.
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