BIG BAD John Hartson may have spoken with his tongue inserted firmly in his cheek when he made his call for Provisional Champions Celtic to have the title conceded to them by ‘the’ Rangers. He will probably need to have his fingers in his ears for the next few days to avoid the backlash. It brought a smile to the face at the end of a tough old week.
You could actually hear the incredulity emanating from the Ibrox boardroom as far away as the International Space Station, as Hartson claimed there was no need for null and void, no requirement to play anymore games, all it took to put the whole title race debate to bed was for the Ibrox club to do the honourable thing and conceded the title.
Speaking on BBC Scotland’s Sportsound show this afternoon the big man had this to say:
“I think they would come out of it with huge respect and gratitude,” said Hartson.
“Rangers would come away with an awful lot of credit if they were to say ‘you have been worthy champions, you have a massive lead’.
“I can honestly say I’d be saying exactly the same if Rangers had the lead. Celtic have got to probably lose five of their last eight games to be overtaken. Let’s be realistic, that isn’t going to happen.”
“It would be an incredible thing to do for Rangers, but like everyone else I don’t expect them to,” Hartson added. “It would be a commendable thing to do, but I’m not naive.
“This is their prerogative and if they wanted to play all the games, that’s fine. You’ve got a similar problem at the bottom with teams going for places and the money that comes with that.
“Celtic would not want Rangers to do that, they wouldn’t want to be handed it, but common sense has to prevail.”
Last night The Celtic Star reported on the BBC giving the Rangers just 1.13% chance of catching Celtic and winning the league. Or to look at it the other way Celtic, according to the BBC, are 98.87% certainties to win the Scottish Premiership.
Listen Hartson’s suggestion is the perfect solution and like all the best ideas the success lies in its simplicity. Celtic get their title, ‘the’ Rangers can hoover up the much needed runners up prize money and we can then focus on handing out the European places, cancelling relegation and finding a workable league model for next season. What’s not to like?
With Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell proclaiming in a statement earlier this week that it was his belief the league “cannot be voided”, and Neil Lennon making his position crystal clear that 9 in a row should head to Celtic Park if no further games can be played.
We then had what seemed like stalemate with ‘the’ Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson announcing in his own club’s stance, that the season could only conclude when all the teams completed their remaining fixtures.
Someone should have called John Hartson. Who knew he had the solution to hand?
We all remember as kids the first time on the putting green when your Dad let you have it as your ball hung an inch away from the lip of the hole, or when the eight ball hung over the pocket of the pool table and you were told there was no need to take the shot on.
Those unwritten rules we were taught by our Fathers in childhood could easily translate to the Scottish Premiership title race.
What’s it to be Mr Robertson, do we really have to pot the black? What did your Father teach you?
Niall J
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