Chris Sutton has warned Celtic that it’s still possible for theRangers to work their way back into contention and go on to win the Scottish Premiership this season…
The latest Ibrox club currently find themselves nine points adrift of Celtic and an incredible 11 points behind Hearts after seven of the 38 fixtures have been played. With both Celtic and Hearts winning at the weekend theRangers dropped another two points, this time on the road at Falkirk and that led to the inevitable sacking of Russell Martin.
And with the expectation that Steven Gerrard is likely to return to Ibrox for a second chance to get the better of his old Liverpool gaffer Brendan Rodgers, Sutton reckons that Gerrard will only return if he is given assurances regarding a transfer budget for January and such is his reputation in the game, Gerrard could well attract some top players who otherwise would not consider playing in Scotland.
And of course the first thing that any manager coming into the job at one of the Glasgow giants is have a close look at how strong their rivals are and for Celtic this season, Sutton reckons that Gerrard will see a weaker Celtic side than has previously been the case.
The Celtic Board of course are facing troubles of their own currently, with a decade or so of Champions League play-off calamities reaching a tipping point this summer when a weakened Celtic side lost to Kairat Almaty to deny the Hoops another season of Champions League football.
Gaps remain in the Celtic squad, notably at centre-forward and on the right wing and there could be more incomings needed particularly if Daizen Maeda and Yang get their moves in January. Essentially it would be wrong for Celtic to deny them a second time.
“The one thing about the prospect of Gerrard coming back is the fans love him, because he stopped Celtic winning 10-in-a-row,” Chris Sutton said today on the Record Sport Celtic Podcast. “The new (the)Rangers manager, who ever it is, can look at it a couple of ways. What is he taking over, for a start? That would be a concern.
“Then you look across the city and ask, ‘how strong are Celtic?’ The gap is nine points at this moment in time – and obviously you have Hearts up there right now. But I honestly don’t think that it’s impossible for (the)Rangers to win the league this season. I’m basing that on what I’ve seen from Celtic this season. January is the big unknown, of course.
“Celtic just need to concentrate and put their own house in order and win games and try and get a rhythm and momentum,” Sutton said.
“The new (the)Rangers manager will go in and say, this squad isn’t good enough. I know there’s just been a big overhaul at Ibrox and lots of players coming in, but their squad isn’t good enough.
“So what’s he going to say? I want £25-30 million to spend in January. If you look at the squad Steven Gerrard inherited and then they brought in the likes of Connor Goldson, Ryan Kent, Jermaine Defoe – can (the)Rangers recruit at that level again? Because that is what he will be demanding. I have no doubt Gerrard would be able to attract a high level of player. He won’t want to come in and fail,” Sutton added.
Much will depend on what both clubs do in January and you have to factor in Hearts maintaining their good form until the New Year then Tony Bloom thinking, ‘look, we could win this thing and open up Champions League money going into Edinburgh for the first time ever’.
Sutton continues by factoring in the current fan unrest at Celtic with the anger well and truly being directed at the Celtic Board.
The former Celtic striker said: “January is going to be the be-all and end-all for Celtic, because this is going to rumble on. In previous seasons Celtic fans have had a gripe about the lack of activity and the lack of signings coming in over the summer, or they’re not qualifying for the Champions League, because of the dominance domestically and finding a way to perform to a certain level, things have settled down.
“But at this moment in time, Celtic are a dull watch. It isn’t attractive football, which we’re seeing at this moment in time. So there’s going to be these grumps and gripes up until January and then Celtic have to act. They have to act decisively in the transfer window.”
What Sutton hasn’t touched in is the impact the seemingly imminent return of Steven Gerrard will have on any decision making on the part of Brendan Rodgers about his own future at Celtic.
Dismissing the Hearts challenge is foolish and ignoring Gerrard’s return being backed by a sizeable transfer budget would be madness, so perhaps all of this, tother with the Celtic fans current extreme levels of unhappiness, will see the purse strings being loosened and the quality Rodgers was looking for in the summer actually being brought it.
The wider point is that this will all make the Scottish Premiership more competitive and will raise the standards across the board and that can be no bad thing, especially as we look at co-efficient calamities in the season ahead. This all might go some way to repairing that damage.
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