A GREAT deal has been written about the gesture by Brendan Rodgers to the Celtic fans on Saturday at Parkhead when he splayed 10 fingers in a statement that clearly showed his aim of taking the Hoops to ten League Championships in a row.
Rodgers, of course, played it down but given that he has signed a new four-year contract and has all but printed 10-in-a- row on the club’s t-shirts, Rogers clearly intended to send a signal that he is here for the long term, and yes, he does want that 10th title – all Celtic fans do as they have never really got over Rangers equalling their Stein-era record nine league flags.
The perceived wisdom in Scottish football is that only a reborn Rangers can stop Celtic on their relentless march to the tennis title. Is that absolutely the case?
For a kick-off, Rangers are well behind the game plan which was set out after they emerged from administration to start life again in the Third Division, as it was then known.
It took them a year longer than what was planned to get back into the top flight, and this year they have simply not lived up to expectations and that has to go down to the lack of investment in the squad. That figure of £30 million is already coming back to haunt chairman Dave King and his own wars off the field have surely proved a distraction.
No matter what happens in the boardroom at Rangers, it is glaringly obvious that they need to spend many millions and spend them wisely to have any chance of overhauling Celtic. It very much remains to be seen whether that will happen.
So why don’t the other clubs think of something revolutionary and try to catch Celtic by thinking out of the box?
Only Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs and Dundee United have big enough supports to create a ‘club’ approach to taking on Celtic.
Hibs and United have to get back into the top flight, of course, Hearts are still rebuilding, so it would have to be concluded that with a very talented manager in Derek McInnes, Aberdeen have the best chance of stopping Celtic, though they are not guaranteed to hold on to their best players this summer. So is there a way to beat Celtic in the short term? There is, and you might call it the Leicester City model.
For, as is rarely pointed out even by the supposed footballing cognoscenti, the Foxes won the Premier League last season largely due to a piece of sheer tactical genius by Claudio Ranieri.
He saw his players’ limitations and strengths and devised the quick-breaking counter-attacking methods that brought City the title.
The proof that it was tactics that won the title? When the other managers down south realised what Ranieri was up to, they countered with tactics of their own and that’s why Leicester have dropped in England but prospered in Europe where they haven’t got used to City’s tactics yet.
Counter-attacking or other tactics alone will not stop Celtic, but why doesn’t somebody at least try?
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