Something absolutely extraordinary is on the cusp of occurring in Scottish football, something even the most optimistic Rangers fans simply wouldn’t have expected at the start of the season.
Should Rangers manage all three points on Saturday against Craig Levein’s out of form Hearts, the gap to Celtic will be a genuinely stunning 6 points with Brendan Rodgers’ men taking a pretty tough trip to the north of Scotland to face Derek McInnes’ Aberdeen the following day knowing they must win to restore the gap.
This has implications of a seismic nature. The gulf between Celtic and Rangers has been incredibly reduced to 9 points in the past seven days, and if that were to be cut by a further 3 points, or even two, it would send shockwaves over to the green and white portion of Glasgow.
Sure, under ‘normal’ circumstances either Old Firm side would be a bit disappointed to be 6 points behind in the table in late February, but this is a new era with a completely rebuilt Rangers side who arguably still are some way off the final product, and as such we can’t judge the implications in the same way we did pre-2012.
But facts are facts. There’s not a single Celtic fan who will be happy with their multimillion pound ex-Champions League current Europa League team being only 6 points ahead of Rangers, and the derision our club (and this site) is receiving from their fansites along with Hibs et al is further evidence of the genuine concern from such quarters and the growing realisation that the domestic gap between the two clubs is reducing.
It is quite, quite incredible to say this, and we simply cannot believe we are uttering these words, but should Rangers close the gap to 6 points come the end of play at Pittodrie, it is game on for the Premier League title.
We admit Celtic’s own deterioration this season has aided Rangers a great deal, as quite simply they’ve been dreadful. Rangers, for our part, have been far from impeccable too, especially at Ibrox.
But for the first time since late autumn 2011, Scotland is on the cusp of having a genuine title race again – and for Rangers to actually win the thing, to secure 55 after what we’ve been through would qualify as arguably the most stunning achievement in Scottish football history.
Of course, we’re a little ahead of ourselves. As yet it is a 9 point gap and that may well be how it fares come late Sunday afternoon. This might be the closest we get this season.
We cannot allow ourselves too much presumption. But we can always envisage possibility, and if recent trends of the past two months continue, Rangers will be, astonishingly, truly in the hunt for the Premier League title.
And on that note, imagine the fallout at Celtic Park if Rangers do it – if Rangers’ modestly-assembled squad filled with loanees and ‘rejects’, as Sutton likes to label them, manages to do the unthinkable and win the SPL, the meltdown from all things green and white will be like nothing we have ever seen before.
And, to paraphrase Kevin Keegan;
“I tell you honestly, I will love it if that happens, love it”
Great post and been thinking this way since before Xmas. Especially since we dropped 6 points against the bottom teams at that point. With the team we have, we have both excuses for losing any games, but since our team or formation is not yet settled yet I'm still not convinced we can win the next game. Let's hope Celtic get through on Thursday so they can drop some more league points.
We need to win the old firm at Ibrox. If that happens…game on.
I don’t think anything in the world would make me happier. If one day we do get Champions League Football then we’ll close the financial gap too.
Sorry, whilst I am also genuinely excited and intrigued with what will transpire this weekend, we are in danger of getting ahead of ourselves. Down primarily to two factors: in meeting Hearts, we will be taking on,arguably, the best defence at Ibrox. They sit in, have very good defenders and never go all out attack – so they are not a team to be counterattacked. And it's at Ibrox where our record this year, abwrden apart, is dismal. Second factor is that while the 'tic are away to the Dons, there is no logical reason to think Aberdeen will, for once, rise to the occasion. And forget all this guff about Selim being tried after going to Russia. These days, they will be back in Scottish soil 6 or 7 hours of the game finishing. But here's hoping…….And let's take care of our game first. And please Murty…if Alves is anywhere near fit play him instead of Bates. Lafferty would have the ineffectual Bates for breakfast, any day of the week.
OMG We are getting a bit ahead of ourselves, On the other side of the coin we could be 12 points behind come Monday morning.
Now that is very possible and we all know It!!?
I HONESTLY love UR enthusiasm and UR optimism its orange blood material!!
Think we require another window as yet, but if I'm wrong (Please be So!!) it would be better than helicopter Sunday for me.
🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 Queens XI 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Helicopter Sunday 2, The Return!,,, Can already see the DVDs stocked in the Rangers Store 🙂
Would be the best league win ever, however, I agree we need to take one game at a time. Inconsistency is and has always been our worst enemy! But we have the players and team that could do it if they had the right attitude and application in every game.
We just need to take each game as it comes. And collect 3p points from each if we can play to our potential then it's gonna be an exciting end to the season.
I will love it if that happens but let's be realistic and not get carried away with a couple of results against poor opposition. We are undoubtably better than before Xmas but we still have difficult days ahead. We can all believe and live in hope but with our defence and home record we are just as likely to drop points to Hearts then watch Aberdeen fail to turn up for a big game once again. And we've still to prove we can beat Ceptic. Sort out those problems and we can be real contenders next season.
Imagine what it would be like for Murphy,Docherty,mccrorie etc to win the league this year after the recent turmoil.
dare to dream?
If only morelos had scored against the 'charity team'
he will get more chances!
Aberdeen will bottle it. Their record this season against the top 5 teams is shocking. I reckon we'll close the gap, but it won't be the sheep taking points off them.
11 games from history. 11 games to possibly even eclipsing Helicopter Sunday. But. The big IF is that to do so all remaining 11 games will probably have to be won. A big ask. That would be 13IAR and definitely unlucky 13 for a certain team 🙂
If that happens it will go down as the greatest achievement in football history EVER! 😁👍
WATP! 💙
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