Tomorrow, Celtic escape, if only briefly, the grinding pressures of chasing a leader in the Scottish Premiership…
And with Hearts playing Dundee at Tynecastle this afternoon they could increase their lead over Celtic to NINE points and in the case of theRangers they’d be 14 points behind the leaders if Hearts win today. Maybe Dundee could do us both a wee favour?
It’s been a strange season, a maddening one, with underperformance on the pitch, raging politics off it, and now a managerial exit. Celtic find themselves in transition for the first time in a long time.
Perhaps the worry, then, is that, like debating with an idiot, you risk being dragged down to their level, only to find the idiot has far more experience in that environment.
Across the city at Ibrox, the latest incarnation of the club playing out of that old stadium is no less turbulent. theRangers are already on their second manager of the season. Russell Martin, it turns out, was not the Messiah but another naughty boy, not wanted from the start by a support that quickly decided he didn’t ‘get it.’
It’s an all-too-familiar tale, another English manager arriving with bright ideas about how Scottish football can be ‘enlightened,’ leaving with his ego dented and his reputation damaged. Too often they come north from the lower reaches of English football believing they can illuminate the Scottish game. It rarely ends well.
Now theRangers have turned to Danny Röhl. He’s young, articulate, modern in his methods, and, for now, unbeaten domestically at least. The early days have been positive, but the pressure has yet to properly arrive. Tomorrow it will, in the most unforgiving of fixtures, a Hampden semi-final, and a Glasgow Derby no less. There are no gentle introductions when Celtic are on the other side of the halfway line.
Celtic has been staggering all season, undercooked, underwhelming, and under the constant drone of politics. The title race has become a background hum of gnawing anxiety. Then the manager walked, and suddenly the whole place felt like it was now running on fumes.
Enter Martin O’Neill, the old alchemist, the man who can talk panic into patience. He’s barely had time to find his office, but already he’s calmed the storm, somewhat at least. Four-nil against Falkirk midweek, a free-flowing, chaotic joyride of a performance. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a lot of fun, and that’s something Celtic Park hasn’t seen for too many months.
This, though, is a derby framed by chaos. One club saw off their manager with the assistance of a police escort, the other delivered a public evisceration of theirs on the club website. Neither departure spoke of stability. Both clubs are unmistakably in flux, under reconstruction, uncertain of direction, desperate for something, anything, that looks like momentum.
Between them, they’ve turned managerial exits into performance art. The PR teams are sweating, the fans are twitching, and both boards are pretending this is all part of some grand evolution. It’s not. It’s crisis management.
The cliché insists that ‘form goes out the window’ in these fixtures, but that’s rarely true. Most derbies go exactly to form. The problem this time is that neither side has any to speak of.
This, then, is the Transition Derby, the Going-In-Blind Derby, the Two Bald Men Fighting Over a Comb Derby. Whoever wins might just find direction in the aftermath. The loser? Well, Glasgow doesn’t do quiet collapses.
Two clubs with no real sense of who they are at the moment, facing each other in a semi-final that could define the next phase of their seasons. For the winner, it might be the spark that ignites consistency and renewed purpose. For the loser, a tailspin could easily follow.
Two giants, both in therapy, both pretending they’ve got their act together. One city, one cauldron, and a semi-final that might just decide who comes out of their fog first.
The stakes, as ever in Glasgow, are enormous. But perhaps what makes this one fascinating is not dominance or momentum, it’s the uncertainty. Two clubs in transition, one city, and one Hampden cauldron ready to witness who blinks first.
Niall J
Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter, signed copies by Danny McGrain available from celticstarbooks.com
Don’t miss the chance to purchase the late, great Celtic historian David Potter’s final book. All remaining copies have been signed by the legendary Celtic captain Danny McGrain PLUS you’ll also receive a FREE copy of David Potter’s Willie Fernie biography – Putting on the Style, and you’ll only be charged for postage on one book. Order from Celtic Star Books HERE.
Auld dog for the hard road.
Pup for the path.
Let’s go.
Hail Hail.
Agreed that it’s nearly impossible to predict what is going to happen within a Glasgow Derby.
This one tomorrow is possibly way harder, than most over a good number of years beforehand imo.
However, I refuse to believe that we haven’t got the better players available, despite a number of injury concerns.
Even at that, we have a number of potential selection starting position decisions to be made, and this with such a so called weakened squad in place?
Personally hope Saracchi starts myself, even if could be doubtful that him or Tierney might have a full game in themselves?
Apart from that decision, still think that the rest of the defensive set up, will remain the same as Wednesday.
Also think we are stronger defensively, even if we do have moments when it could be disputed?
Can’t see any changes to the starting midfield 3 either from Wednesday. Got options from the bench also if and when required also.
Attacking options is not as straightforward.
Maeda if fully and mentally right, then how do you not start him, with his record within this fixture?
Should he start ahead of Kenny who done so well on Wednesday?
Replacing forrest might be an option, even if I thought forrest played very well on Wednesday, but can’t remember the last time forrest had a good game in this fixture.
Even if kelchi should be available, does he start in the striker role?
Even adding kelchi to the squad, would be unlucky on Osmand, who looked very lively on Wednesday.
Still leaves the question, as to whether tomorrow could be to big of a game for both Kenny and Osmand, as the diet game was to big and important for Donovan and Murray.
Regardless of the decision making MoN takes, I don’t see ourselves having the total dominance in the possession either.
So therefore believe that which ever manager can set his team up the best, and get the performance levels from his players, should be favourite.
Still say that it will be MoN, and with hopefully far more goal scoring chances created by ourselves, then not such a high dependency upon being so clinical, could be the deciding factor in the outcome, in our favour imo.