Audible concern from Rangers supporters about elements of their team’s pre-season performances may not be relevant. Two years ago, an Ibrox defeat of Real Madrid fuelled giddy assertions that Rangers would retain the Scottish Premiership. Celtic, who had just hired Ange Postecoglou, appeared in turmoil. By the following May the league flag had returned to Celtic Park.
The previous Scottish top-flight campaign of 2020-21 was freakish because of Covid but also, it is increasingly apparent, in terms of outcome. For more than a decade, Glasgow’s green-and-white half have dwarfed all others in respect of trophy return. Rangers look like one-season wonders.
That Michael Beale was hired as the Rangers manager last season owed much to the club clinging to the comfort blanket of 2021. Beale coached under Steven Gerrard and enjoyed the associated public relations opportunity as Rangers briefly broke Celtic’s spell. It was impossible to judge Beale during his brief period in charge of QPR and, to a large extent, upon arrival at Ibrox last season. Beale inherited a batch of serial losers. That Rangers opted against, or could not find, a manager with a track record of success in his own right remains puzzling.
The time to properly assess Beale is now. A much-needed Rangers overhaul has seen Beale focus on the final third. The validity of that will soon be apparent – Rangers have been defensively suspect for years – but this is Beale’s team playing in his style. By the time Celtic visit Ibrox in early September, Rangers need to have full league points and a head of steam. Without that, the manager will find himself under pressure.
In Brendan Rodgers, Celtic start with a manager who has prevailed in Scotland before. Celtic’s refusal to gamble on a project coach after Postecoglou set sail for Tottenham was smart. Therein lies the rub and the problem for Rangers; the one club they are trying desperately to topple have no desire to operate in the realms of ifs and buts. It would be astonishing if Rodgers had suddenly forgotten what it takes to succeed in this environment. Continuation of a recruitment policy that has focus in Asia shows that Celtic’s strategy remains unaltered by who is in the dugout. Overconfidence looks the only barrier to another Celtic title win. The club’s decision-making is sound.
Rodgers seems to believe he has unfinished business in Scotland, partly in appeasing those who were furious at the timing of his departure for Leicester in 2019. Rodgers is unlikely to have much credit in the bank should Celtic start the campaign slowly but there is no reason to believe that will happen. The former Liverpool manager inherited the best team in Scotland, has solidified in key areas and retained those who make Celtic tick. Jota’s transfer to Saudi Arabia was a financial dream for Celtic while doing little material harm to the team; the Portuguese winger flattered to deceive in hoops.
Celtic have resource to spend and plenty of it. Their biggest challenge may come in convincing players worth in the region of £15m that Scotland is a worthwhile environment. Even in times of trouble, Celtic’s trading model was the envy of Rangers. The hit rate for signings has recently been so high that the odd error is barely relevant. Beale has hung his summer hat on Danilo; the £6m arrival from Feyenoord has to deliver both on the pitch and by way of a chunky sale. Rangers erred badly in the latter context with the man Danilo has essentially replaced, Alfredo Morelos.
Off the field, this has been another inauspicious summer for the Scottish Professional Football League, its chief executive, Neil Doncaster, and lesser-spotted chairman, Murdoch MacLennan. An ill-advised plan to shoehorn B-teams into a new fifth tier crashed. The SPFL had to issue an apology and confirm it will pay costs in concluding a long dispute with Rangers over Cinch’s sponsorship. Astonishingly – or not – the league agreed a prime deal that a major club demonstrated it need not comply with.
Viaplay’s decision to abandon UK deals caused further embarrassment for the SPFL; the subscription channel not only broadcasts but is the title sponsor of Scotland’s League Cup. It remains baffling that Scottish clubs still accept the form of leadership Doncaster and his £400,000-a-year salary offer. The SPFL is a stale organisation, sadly lacking in dynamism.
Although they won the return leg, Hibernian’s display when losing a European qualifier first leg in Andorra served as the latest reminder of Scottish football’s pitifully low standard. The lack of homegrown player development is alarming, the willingness to accept artificial surfaces in the top flight ludicrous and lack of regulation over the finances of clubs unacceptable given horror shows from the past. Scottish football needs a shake.
By the time the Premiership trophy is handed over in May, 39 years will have rumbled by since a team other than Celtic or Rangers were champions of Scotland. That is of course a competitive absurdity. This is distinctly the era of Celtic; all logic points towards that continuing under Rodgers.
