Celtic on the brink of becoming Scotland's most successful club, as Rodgers' side get the opportunity to achieve it against the Ibrox side

11/04/2024 07:27 AM

With gaps everywhere in the stands, the Ibrox side limped to a 2-1 victory over a stubborn Motherwell side at Mount Florida yesterday.

The empty seats at Hampden were indicative of the distinct air of apathy that has settled over the Ibrox club.

Winning the Premier Sports Cup semi-final will not have done much to bolster morale either.

After all, they have to face a Celtic side that seems to be virtually unstoppable domestically.

On Saturday, fresh off the back of beating the Ibrox side at Pittodrie, Aberdeen entered into their Premier Sports Cup semi-final with Celtic high on confidence.

A couple of weeks previously, they had come to our backyard and stolen two goals and a point to take back to Aberdeen with them.

At 17.30 pm, when they walked out onto the smoke enshrouded Hampden turf, the Dons were ready to show Celtic what they were made of.

They were up for it, big time.

It looked like it was set up to be a Cup clash for the ages.

And it was.

But not for the Dons, who were brought crashing back down to earth with such a bang, some of their players are probably still seeing stars today.

By the time the final whistle blew at Hampden, Daizen Maeda had a hat-trick, and Dimitar Mitov had shipped 3 unstoppable goals in each half, two of which had rattled off the underside of his crossbar.

It makes you wonder if the Ibrox players went into their tie against Motherwell with the thoughts of what they would be facing in the final if they overcame the Fir Park side.

It certainly reflected in their tepid performance.

Played out in front of a tepid crowd, who weren’t quite sure in the end whether they should be happy about the win, or worried about what lay ahead in December’s final.

As a Celtic fan, it would be presumptuous of me to say we’ll win the League Cup final on December 15th.

However, I will base my presumptions on what I’ve seen from Celtic to date this season.

And I’ve seen enough to be confident that we have a decent chance of winning at Hampden in the run up to the festive season.

But it’s not just me who believes we should win, now the media are also writing off the Ibrox side.

Keith Jackson gives them no chance in his article in the Record today.

He can see the writing is on the wall for the Ibrox side when it comes to playing Celtic.

I’ll put it this way, when put to the test against the best side in Scotland out-with ourselves on Saturday evening, well, the result speaks for itself.

And make no mistake, Aberdeen are the best side in Scotland aside from us this season.

They proved it last Wednesday night at Pittodrie by beating our League Cup final opponents.

A cup match is a one off tie.

Aberdeen are still joint top of the Scottish Premiership with us.

Saturday’s loss will certainly have dented their confidence, no doubt.

But it’s unlikely it will undo all of Jimmy Thelin’s good work up to this point.

Thelin strikes me as the kind of manager who will learn from a defeat like that.

There is a lot more to come from Aberdeen before this season is through, despite losing to Celtic, that’s for sure.

And Jimmy Thelin is definitely in a much stronger position than his Ibrox counterpart.

Yesterday’s victory for him was a stay of execution.

A loss to Motherwell would have been unthinkable, and in reality, it would have been hard to see Clement remaining in his position, had they lost.

For Clement, at this point in time, it seems like he is a character stuck in the wrong soap opera.

He is delusional and believes that he can somehow turn his side’s fortunes around.

All he has to do is look at past history at that club to realise it is an impossible task.

Once you’ve lost the klanbase, it’s only ever a matter of time.

And judging by the atmosphere at Hampden yesterday, or lack thereof, it’s well and truly obvious the klanbase has been lost.

If I was a neutral, I might, in some way, feel sorry for the position Clement now finds himself in.

But I’m not a neutral, and it’s engrained in my DNA to dislike everything about the club he manages.

Whether Clement realises it or not, he is on the brink of going down as the most infamous Ibrox manager of all time.

For what else can he become if he is the manager at the helm when they relinquish their self-granted title of the World’s most successful club?

It is upon this boast that their hubris, supremacist, and we arra peepul world view is built.

Their deluded self-belief that they are simply the best in the whole wide world.

A belief, I might add, that is entirely created by themselves.

But a belief, none the less, that they are terrified to relinquish.

Because what happens when they are no longer the peepul?

What happens when they are just another Scottish Premiership club, no longer even simply the second best?

As I discussed in Thursday’s article, the gap to them and ourselves and Aberdeen is now potentially unbridgeable.

I based this on the fact they could not bridge gaps similar to this in their last two seasons.

With what was probably a better squad than they have now.

So what hope do they have of closing it now?

In fact, the gap is probably more likely to widen than close, the way things are going.

Third or possibly even worse is a distinct possibility in the league this season.

Does Philippe Clement really care though?

Is he bothered about what his legacy is going to be in Glasgow?

I mean, why should he be?

It isn’t as if he was brought up in the Glasgow bubble, and he clearly doesn’t understand the depth of the rivalry between us and them.

If he did, he would take stock and do the decent thing.

He’d resign with what dignity he has remaining, and let some other poor misfortunate take the poisoned chalice.

Because that’s what it is.

A poisoned, toxic, dysfunctional chalice.

It would take a miracle of epic proportions for him to turn this around now.

But he seems intent on staying the course.

Going down with the ship, as it were.

Of course, that is if he manages to survive between now and December 15th.

If his side falls further behind in the title race between now and then, that could signal the end for him too.

In the short term, the Ibrox side face Olympiacos away in the Europa League, and a resurgent Hearts under Neil Critchley.

Critchley will have zero interest in tarnishing his budding reputation in Scotland by rolling over to have his Hearts side’s bellies tickled by their bigger cousins.

He isn’t of the same mould as Naismith.

As for Olympiacos, well, they could be on the end of another hiding against them.

In a side that boasts the likes of Brazilian Willian, former Athletic Bilbao player, Dani Garcia, and Greek international winger, Georgios Masouras, there is plenty there to cause major problems for Clement’s floundering charges.

Should Clement survive until December 15th, and then his side loses to Celtic, he will go down in infamy as the manager who relinquished their bullshit title of World’s most successful club.

If, by some miracle, he manages to survive that, and he is in situ when Celtic legitimately win their 55th title, he will become one of the most derided figures in Ibrox history.

What remains of the Ibrox board must surely know he’s a busted flush?

Maybe that’s the reason they’re keeping him in his position?

So when the time comes, they can pin all of their misfortunes on him?

Celtic are on the brink of legitimately becoming the most successful team in Scottish football history.

Wouldn’t be easy to blame it all on a Belgian who wasn’t a “real Raynjurz man”?

Just like the whole Copland Road fiasco was blamed on James Bisgrove?

Is Clement just being made a scapegoat?

And is he too blind to see that for himself?

Nothing would surprise me when it comes to that club.

They are hanging by a thread now.

I do not doubt that the average Ibrox supporter out there is in dread of what could happen on December 15th.

Celtic have some more gears to go through yet.

On Saturday, we didn’t even look like we went into top gear against Aberdeen.

As hard as it might be to believe, there was more in the tank if we really wanted to call on it.

That’s the reality here.

And when it comes to Rodgers wanting to be the manager who makes Celtic Scotland’s most successful club, he will use everything, and I mean everything, we have in reserve to achieve that goal.

This is what the Ibrox side will face at Hampden on December 15th.

It’s also what Philippe Clement will face.

He is on a hiding to nothing really.

If he survives until then, and then loses that final, he will become one of the most ridiculed figures in Ibrox history.

And if Celtic lift their 55th title on his watch, well, I’ll leave the rest up to your imagination.

Even if he’s gone by then, whoever takes over won’t be blamed.

Ibrox fans will believe the damage was done under Clement.

Because over there, they always need someone to blame for their misfortune.

Whether wittingly or unwittingly, Clement has placed himself in that position.

And it really looks to me as if he can’t see that at all.

Either that or he’s choosing to ignore the reality.

The man must feel he’s bullet proof.

He might think that, but if he loses the League Cup final on December 15th, he’ll need more than a bullet proof vest.

He’ll need a bomb shelter.

If I was him, I’d walk away now.

But I’m not.

Instead, I get to watch this shitshow from the position of power my club bestows upon me.

And I can tell you this much, I am loving every second of it.

The fact that we can overtake them by beating them makes it feel like it was written in the stars.

This League Cup final will be a special one.

I cannot wait for the 15th of December.

I really can’t.

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