In case you’ve been living on the moon for the past month or so, you may not have heard, Celtic lost a football match over the festive period.
Yes, in a quite stunning display of, umm… adequacy, Rangers beat Celtic 3-0 at Ibrox.
The Scottish press, naturally, erupted with joy. Talk of “we’re back!” and “the league isn’t over yet” ran rampant.
Across the city of Glasgow, statues shuddered in terror and family pets ran for cover as the Ibrox hoards raised their cloven hooves in triumph. “They’ve bottled it!” and “The Rangers are coming!” echoed out amongst the usual incoherent ramblings of the various fan blogs. But that’s enough about the Daily Record and the Sunday Mail.
It’s quite ironic, given their unhealthy fixation on the number, that in the end this euphoria lasted a little over 55 hours.
They never learn. They just never learn.
Normal Service Quickly Resumed
Celtic took care of business in their next game with a 3-0 win over St. Mirren. Rangers meanwhile, blew a two goal lead, then another one goal lead, drawing 3-3 at Hibernian.
The gap after Rangers’ victory on January 2nd was 13 points. Now, more than a month later ,the gap is... wait for it…. 13 points.
Then there's also the small matter of Queen's Park and THAT Scottish Cup tie.
I could just add another paragraph of laughing emojis at this point, but you get the picture, I'm sure.
Yet, still, the Scottish press insist that this is a rivalry, that we are equals. They believe that Celtic’s almost total dominance of Scottish football for the past 15 years is “swings and roundabouts.”
They view a pendulum swing back in favor of the occupants of Ibrox as inevitable. The fact that there is no evidence whatsoever to back this up, naturally, doesn’t matter to them. Why let little things like facts and empirical data get in the way of yet another trip to Fantasy Island for Keith Jackson and company?
These aren’t mere flights of fancy though, nor are they entirely down to wishful thinking or incompetent journalism. The Scottish mainstream media has a vested interest in maintaining this delusion, this belief that there really are still two powerhouses in Scottish football.
Newspaper circulation figures in Scotland have been in a death spiral for a number of years now. Papers like The Daily Record, The Sun, and my former employer, The Herald only enjoy about 10% of the readership they had as recently as 20 years ago.
In the Absence of Truth, Sycophancy Steps Up
News is far easier accessed online now. And numerous studies show that trust in mainstream media is at an all-time low, not just in Scotland, but across the world. More and more people are turning to independent, online sources like ACSOM for their Celtic news.
When news ceases to draw an audience, newspapers have to take a different tack. And so began the Rangers survival myth, and the ongoing delusion of sporting parity between the two clubs. Telling the truth ceased to be a priority, if indeed it ever was for these establishments.
Instead, it became a case of “stay on message”. That message being: Rangers didn’t die in 2012, despite even former Rangers Communications Director Jim Traynor admitting that they did in a Daily Record editorial that very summer. No matter how much this lie is repeated, fans of most other clubs, and, in truth, even the more intelligent elements of The Rangers support, know it is nonsense.
There is no “Old Firm”
They continue to cling to the term “Old Firm” like it’s some kind of unbreakable sacred creed. The reality is that years, perhaps decades before the first incarnation of Rangers died in 2012, The Old Firm brand had long since been cast aside by most of the Celtic support.
It was toxic, appealing to the very worst, most savage elements of both sets of supporters. Celtic as a business, amidst considerable fan pressure, finally dropped the term in the mid-2010s. Since then, the game has been known on all official club media as The Glasgow Derby.
However, even that term has for many, myself included, already surpassed its sell-by date.
Derby implies a genuine rivalry, a battle where both sides have a roughly even chance of winning.
This isn’t the case in Glasgow, and it hasn’t been for a long time.
The reality is, in Scottish football today there’s Celtic and then there’s everyone else. And there is no shortage of evidence to back this up.
It’s All About Levels
Celtic’s huge cash reserves are well documented. Our merchandise revenues dwarf every other club in Scotland, and indeed most in world football. Why else would Adidas make us one of their “elite” clubs from next season?
It’s certainly not based on our recent European pedigree. It’s down to money, pure and simple. Celtic are a massive, global brand. We are on an entirely different level to the Ibrox Tribute Act. While the Celtic support speculates on what design Adidas will bring to next season’s kit, Gers fans are left to ponder whether or not Castore will get the logos facing the right way up on their next jersey.
Then there’s the matter of players. Celtic are in a position now where we can spend around 10 million on a player who isn’t even guaranteed a starting berth. Meanwhile, the best player on the other side of town this year, Vaclav Cerny, is a loanee that Rangers already admit they can’t afford to keep next season.
Mind the Gap
The gap between these former rivals is huge and it will only grow further. We already sell 10,000 more season tickets a season than they do, and Celtic Park’s main stand will, inevitably, have to be upgraded at some point in the not too distant future, expanding this margin further still.
Any notion of actual sporting rivalry is based entirely on nostalgia, misplaced optimism and in some cases, total, delusional detachment from reality.
One win in a “derby” match, does not a genuine rivalry make.
To put it succinctly, the underlying point is this: January 2nd was as bad as it will get for Celtic, and as good as it’s likely to get for Rangers.
The odd win over Celtic here and there, maybe an occasional cup. Perhaps even a league championship or two, if Celtic ever have another absolute disaster of a season like we did in 2020/21.
It doesn’t change the pattern though. And the future of Scottish football points to one simple, inescapable conclusion. Celtic are dominant, and will continue to be dominant for as long as we allow ourselves to be.
History Doesn’t Remember “Moral Victories”
For many, the current era of Celtic dominance began in August 2000, with a 6-2 win over Rangers. To this day, that game is celebrated as one of the most glorious days in our recent history.
Does anyone actually remember that we lost the return fixture at Ibrox 5-1?
No, because ultimately Celtic won the treble that year. There is no trophy given out for “but we beat youse in a league game once”.
Few people will remember the events of January 2nd 2025 even six months from now. Because ultimately, it was just one bad game. We are too good a team to let that happen again. In fact, lets be honest, the new year game was barely 6 weeks ago at the time of writing and most people seem to have forgotten it already.
The old firm is dead. Rangers are dead, Scottish football is Celtic’s to command. That is the harsh reality. Until The Rangers support, the reanimated corpse of a club that they follow, and their fawning cheerleaders in the media face this reality, they will never move forward.
Celtic meanwhile, will carry on regardless.