Celtic racked up their tenth consecutive win with last week’s Viaplay Cup final triumph over theRangers. The Hoops have not lost a domestic match since September, 24 games ago. We never stop is more than a mantra, it’s a mentality and factual reality of Ange Postecoglou’s team. In truth, we never stop winning, while others never stop talking.
Ahead of the Cup Final, Ibrox employees did a monumental amount of blabbing. Celtic were referred to as “The other mob” by Fashion Sakala, who also claimed his side are “so much better” than the champions and current league leaders. Those comments are in keeping with Michael Beale, who initially wouldn’t use Celtic’s name and sounded more like Sam Smith with his use of the word ‘them’ in his first few interviews. Beale also stated there was nothing between the teams, suggested Ange Postecoglou was “lucky” and has constantly whinged about Celtic’s budget without any regard for the concepts of net transfers or player sales funding signings.
TheRangers refused to have the Cup Final marked in the customary manner, with the fixture details stitched onto the players’ shirts. Having the word ‘Celtic’ on a theRangers top would be a crime it seems. Never mind the standards and class that inspired the concession of an equaliser after robbing Partick Thistle. Those same standards were on display at full time at Hampden, when the runners up collected their medals and stormed down the tunnel before the victors lifted yet another trophy.
Celtic’s 2-1 victory, was their second derby day victory this year. The first such meeting ended in a 4-0 win for the Celts, the next game resulted in a 2-2 draw thanks to a shocking decision which prevented the Bhoys from receiving a stonewall penalty, and the latest installment of this rivalry saw Celtic lift the cup in first gear. That’s to be expected. After all, the Hoops currently enjoy a nine point lead in the SPFL with a 26 goal advantage on goal difference.
The matter should have been settled. One would think silence may ensue, or a bit of humility and a vow to try and bridge the gap in future. Not so.
Instead, John Lundstrum has reiterated that there is no gap. “They’ve turned up and we haven’t so it looks bad,” he said, before insisting that “it was just one game.” His manager then started talking about “the teams that spend the most being first”. Clearly he didn’t notice that his favourite team Chelsea, who his boyhood hero Chris Sutton played for, are languishing in mid-table. What he failed to mention was that Ange conducted his Celtic rebuild on the back of losing millions of pounds worth of talent in the shape of Ajer, Edouard, Elyounoussi, Brown etc. Those players needed replaced and their transfer fees financed the replacements. It wasn’t a case of Celtic having a strong team and just adding £30m to it.
Some people never stop talking… and talking about Celtic at that. As for Celtic themselves, they never stop winning.
