Celtic interim coach John Kennedy’s protestations over Nathan Patterson are beyond hypocritical, but we must admit Rangers have been canny and a bit fortunate to have the kid available now to face Celtic.

We do not know when James Tavernier will be fit again, even if he’s now doing grass work, and it’s not impossible the captain will miss the rest of the season.

Which makes Patterson essential.

Leon Balogun has demonstrated he’s no longer capable at RB, and there’s no one else.

Patterson, on the other hand, has, frankly, been excellent in that slot – few watching him don’t think we have one hell of a RB graduate on our hands there, even if we urge against hyping and pressuring a 19-year old boy too much.

But we do have to laugh at Kennedy whining about the ‘punishment’ when his club committed the Dubai scandal and never did apologise properly to Scottish football for it. Indeed, they barely condemned it, Liewell only reluctantly apologising to his own fans belatedly. They never received an ounce of punishment nor did they give any out internally.

Rangers, on the other hand, never condoned the Covid Crew’s actions, indeed slating them and banning them internally.

The point? Rangers have been clever – we have exploited the loopholes, and while morally Patterson still in the shirt is debatable at best, on a football level Rangers have done what was best for us.

End of the day, we need the lad, because there’s no one else.

And that’s just the way it is.

But Celtic can damn well shut their trap about loopholes – they’ve leapt through a tonne of them lately.