Ahead of Celtic and it’s not even September? SPL tide threatens to swing…

It’s not terribly often we talk about Celtic on here. This is a Rangers site for Rangers fans and we talk about our club.

But today’s result at Tynecastle involving a pretty convincing defeat of Celtic by an infinitely superior Hearts side has thrown up so many talking points that we really have to cover it.

This was an important afternoon for sure – this was Celtic’s opportunity to take on a traditionally top-six place side on their own patch and continue to dominate as they have done for three+ seasons.

What happened was an energetic Hearts side completely outplayed them and deservedly won. With a victory, Rangers tomorrow will be above Celtic in the table for the first time since 2011/2012.

This Celtic team is not half as good as it thinks, or thought it is. It’s had the easy edge over abysmal Rangers teams of the recent past, but against a Hearts side with a half decent striker, it had no answer and was second best all over the pitch.

Add to this their manager Rodgers’ claims of quitting if his ambitions aren’t met, and the tide could, just could be turning in Rangers’ favour.

Steven Gerrard has made a stunning start to life in Govan – here’s a comparison:

10 man Rangers went to the second best team in Scotland, completely outplayed them and should have won but for a complete daylight robbery in the final two minutes.

11 men Celtic could barely muster a shot on target at the fifth-placed Hearts (who lost their captain, incidentally) and were convincingly beaten. An interesting afternoon for sure.

Meanwhile Lafferty’s finish only cemented the importance of signing this lad again. He wants to come, we know this. He wants home, and outside the Old Firm (and maybe including?) he’s the best striker in the SPL. His value probably just doubled following that goal, but the reality is Rangers need him, and we have to pay for him.

Meanwhile we can be relieved we did not sign Jack Hendry from Dundee – Celtic’s defence was exposed repeatedly, and he was a class below Goldson and Katic. He was signed from Dundee and that’s about the level he looked.

But most importantly, we now know this Celtic team is there for the taking. They ain’t great, their manager ain’t happy, they’re leaking goals, and they’re absolute guff in Europe.

This is a real chance for the SPL to be wide open – Rangers have to take advantage of this.