There’s been a bit of talk from some Rangers fans about Aberdeen’s loss at Celtic Park. The classic ‘lying down’ accusations have been thrust as a result of the Dons’ 6-0 loss in the east end, with fans pointing the finger at the Pittodrie side for ‘laying over’ ‘as usual’.

Many look at the 1-3 loss which spelled the end of Michael Beale’s Rangers career at the hands of Aberdeen for ‘proof’ that the northern Scottish side raise their game against Rangers and cave in happily to Celtic.

So we decided to have a look into this with a delve into the arhives:

Going back to 2021, we see two 4-0 wins in a row at Ibrox for Rangers, and a 5-0 in 2019. There are a lot of other mixed results in there too more recently, including defeats for Rangers. These are mostly at Aberdeen.

Celtic? It’s the other way around – while their recent results v the Dons see big scores, the further back we go the numbers get a lot more modest and they start dropping points pre-Angie. A 6-0 5-0 and a 4-0 in 2023 but nothing like that again till back in 2019 and a 4-0 at Pittodrie.

So what does this tell us?

It tells us Rangers have been absolutely garbage for far too long, and the Dons have taken advantage of that with some good results. It’s not till back to the Gerrard era where the Dons were dispatched with more ease. You know, back when we were actually good.

Celtic? They’ve been tubthumping under Angie, and despite some blips, Rodgers inherited Angie’s side who know how to handle Aberdeen, so those results are not surprising.

But what do we make of the lay down stuff and raise the game stuff?

Aberdeen do not lay down to Celtic. It’s a myth from paranoid Rangers fans. Yes, they do raise their game against Rangers because there’s a historical rivalry between our clubs that they and Celtic do not have.

The amount of hate between these clubs which basically started with the horror of Simpson’s assault on Durrant and the disgusting Ibrox Disaster chants from the Sheep means there’s added spice in that fixture that there just isn’t in situ when they face Celtic.

But the idea the Dons go to Parkhead and lay down for their bellies to be tickled is literally ridiculous. None of their players give a hoot about Celtic’s fortunes, only their own chances for points, and while they had a horror match at the weekend, the idea that they did that on purpose is as ridiculous as Dunfermline doing it for Rangers, Chris.

So no, the evidence disproves it, and the reality is no team ever takes the field intending to lose. Aside match-fixing of course….

What a truly absurd idea.