Cricket scores are completely embarrassing Scottish football
Rangers' supporters cheer for their team during the friendly football match between Rangers and Tottenham Hotspur at the Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow on July 23, 2022. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by Andy Buchanan / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images)
The worrying thing isn’t Celtic’s score today, it’s the fact they and Rangers are now so far ahead of the SPL, Hibs blip aside, that it’s becoming unsustainable.
Pre-kick off, Rangers were on top of the table with 14 goals in 5 matches. Celtic will top it afterwards with 21 goals at least at the time of writing.
Sure, Utd are an absolute shambles of a club at the moment, conceding 9 in 4 before today, but both sides of the Old Firm are rattling in 4+ against most teams this season, and we’d like to know how that can be sustained.
To have Rangers and Celtic 4+ nil victors every week makes it utterly absurd, and we don’t know if it’s more the fact the two clubs have got too good for the league or the SPL has gone completely backwards third from down.
Maybe both?
Of course, we don’t care about what Celtic do, but the wider implications for our club is that the teams third from down are offering less challenge every season.
Even the side who doesn’t win the league will still steam roller the teams below, and we can’t help wondering how the rest get a bit better.
This matters because at UCL level, Rangers need strong domestic competition otherwise they will struggle against world class sides.
This is why big teams in smaller leagues struggle to excel at the very peak of UCL – Benfica, Porto, Brugges, Anderlecht, Ajax – compare how these league giants do in the UCL with Barca, Real, City, PSG etc.
The better your league, the better prepared you are to take on the best in Europe.
Rangers defied every odd in the UEL: but that wasn’t the absolute cream of Europe at the highest level.
UCL is, and gubbing Utd and County by cricket scores is great for ego and morale, but not so good for development.
Que sera.