Even in as fevered a football environment as Glasgow, the shifting of bragging rights in the days leading up to an Old Firm clash felt novel. Rangers supporters were purring with expectation after St Johnstone held Celtic to a scoreless draw last Saturday.
The return of Brendan Rodgers had already been punctured by a feeble League Cup exit at Kilmarnock. The blue half of the city were licking their lips at the prospect of Rodgers bringing his team to Ibrox.
The changing of attitudes came after midweek events in Eindhoven. The manner of PSV’s 5-1 humbling of Rangers left Michael Beale grasping to defend his “new team”. It is one that displayed old failings. Suddenly, the dynamic of Sunday’s derby changed once more. Both managers find themselves under intense scrutiny. Should Celtic prevail, patience for Beale from the stands will evaporate.
A year ago this weekend, Celtic trounced Rangers 4-0. It was an episode from which Giovanni van Bronckhorst never recovered. Reaching a Europa League final a matter of months earlier proved irrelevant. Rangers sacked the Dutchman in November.
Rodgers need only glance back to 2021 should he require the validation that, in fairness, he seldom apparently needs to receive. Ange Postecoglou’s introduction to the Scottish Premiership included defeats by Hearts, Rangers and Livingston. Dundee United held Celtic in Glasgow. It was October until Celtic started to kick into gear: they still claimed the title. “You certainly do not win the league in August,” says Rodgers.
-Stav Nahmani struck six minutes into stoppage time to earn St Mirren a 1-1 draw at Livingston and send the Paisley side top of the Premiership.
Luiyi de Lucas looked to have won the game for the home side when the defender scored from close range two minutes from the end of regulation time. Saints, though, kept going and Nahmani claimed his first league goal to salvage a point for his team.
St Johnstone mounted a dramatic late fightback to claim a 2-2 draw against Dundee at McDiarmid Park.
The visitors dominated proceedings for long spells and found themselves in command courtesy of Scott Tiffoney's opener and Ricki Lamie finding the net on his Dundee debut.
The introduction of Max Kucheriavyi was to change the game. The Ukrainian came off the bench to hand Saints a lifeline with eight minutes remaining and then popped up in the sixth minute stoppage time to earn Steven Maclean's side an unlikely share of the spoils.
Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes revealed he received an apology from referee Kevin Clancy after his side were denied a late equaliser in a 1-0 defeat to Ross County at Rugby Park.
With just five minutes left, Stuart Findlay looked as if he had cancelled out Simon Murray's opener when he headed home. However, referee Clancy had already blown to stop the game and award a penalty to Kilmarnock - which Danny Armstrong then failed to convert. Clancy had already awarded County a penalty in a dramatic match, but that decision was reversed after VAR Greg Aitken sent the referee to look at the pitchside monitor.
The Killie manager McInnes said: "Kevin (Clancy) apologised and admitted he made a huge mistake. These guys are serious about their profession so he will not be feeling good about himself.
"An apology is something. He said he wasn't expecting Stuart Findlay to score the goal, but it is not his job to expect things."
The victory takes County on to six points from four games, two more than Killie. PA Media
It is possible to overstate a level of indifference among an entitled element of the Celtic support to Rodgers. Still, it does exist. His 2019 exit for Leicester, coupled with the love-bombing of Postecoglou, means a loss to Rangers would place the manager in an invidious position within three months of his Celtic return.
Rodgers rails against any sense he is trying to reinvent Postecoglou’s wheel. “I am not here to jeopardise the strategy of the team or lock them into something that will not work,” he says. “I know how to win. I know what it takes and I will show the players how to win.”
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Certain elements of Rodgers’s second Celtic coming are puzzling. He was appointed in mid-June, shortly before Jota was sold to Al-Ittihad for £25m. Champions League qualification was already secure. Rodgers has made several pointed remarks about the need for quality in the squad, along with his view that it was weaker than last season under Postecoglou.
Given the financial and managerial stability Celtic enjoy, it is reasonable to ask why this is the case. European club football’s premier club competition, where Celtic will face Feyenoord, Atlético Madrid and Lazio, already has ominous connotations.
By Friday, Rodgers appeared more content. “There was a story written when I first arrived that there was going to be £10m and £15m players,” he says. “But that’s a story created outside of the club and certainly not by myself. The club has a model that is sustainable and they’ll work to that model. That’s where it’s at and it has proven to be successful.”
In his defence, Celtic were uninspiring through much of the later stages of last season even when silverware was being won. But the failure to score a goal over 180 minutes against Kilmarnock and St Johnstone – the first-team budgets of both clubs may just reach Rodgers’s own salary – was pretty damning.
Unlike Rodgers, Beale spent the summer rebuilding a starting XI, but through stark necessity. The lesson from Van Bronckhorst’s sacking is that Beale will get this season alone to try to plant Rangers back at the top of Scotland’s tree. Beale has rebuilt a midfield and attack, which he must hope is sufficient to compensate for hilariously generous defenders. Celtic will fancy their chances of scoring at Ibrox.
Rangers’ 3-0 win over Celtic in May fuelled the kind of hope their supporters have had to cling to during a concerted period of dominance from those in green. The problem for Beale is the fixture barely mattered. Postecoglou swatted him aside when it counted, primarily in league and Scottish Cup ties. Beale needs a statement of intent early in this campaign.
Rangers teams should not implode in the manner that played out in the Netherlands. “We know that is not good enough,” Beale says. “As a club of our size we never should accept results like midweek.” Just last season, Liverpool thrashed them 7-1 at Ibrox. Beale is very good at talking the talk.
Neither club would ever say it but a draw would suit them at this point. Any alternative outcome is going to place a manager in a scenario that is deeply unpleasant any time but especially in early September.
