The people who play for, manage and support Celtic and Rangers long ago realised that, in a very real sense, second is last.
In 2025 we will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Aberdeen’s third championship success under Alex Ferguson and the last time the league flag was flown anywhere other than Parkhead or Ibrox. The fact that Scottish football has been a two-horse race for the best part of four decades, however, only increases the pressure on the men running those two clubs, particularly when one of them is utterly dominant. Celtic have ruled the roost since the turn of the century, winning 17 of the 23 titles and 11 of the last 12. They are currently seven points clear of Rangers after eight fixtures. By contrast, only two major trophies have found their way to Ibrox since Walter Smith retired as manager after winning a third successive title in 2011. Since then their long-suffering support has endured administration, liquidation and stagnation, with the run to the Europa League final last year now looking more like a blip than a breakthrough. The players, too, have been criticised and castigated for their failure to overtake the front runners. Andy Walker knows how they feel, having experienced the bad old days with Celtic as their city rivals matched the achievement of Jock Stein’s side by being crowned champions nine years in a row (1989-97). The former Scotland striker, signed from Motherwell by Billy McNeill in 1987, watched as the Hoops descended from being kings of Europe to domestic mediocrity under a board devoid of ambition, imagination or money. “Celtic had a strong team then, with the likes of Mick McCarthy, Billy Stark, Frank McAvennie and Paul McStay there,” he said. “We won the league and Scottish Cup in our centenary season but Billy knew he still needed to strengthen because of the way Rangers were spending money. “He told me that, in the summer of 1988, he’d informed the directors that he wanted to sign two players; Peter Beardsley from Liverpool and Paul Gascoigne from Newcastle. “Bear in mind that Rangers had been able to sign up half of the England team then because English clubs were banned from playing in Europe at the time. “Billy knew the difference those players could have made to us but he got a negative response from the board, who told him: ‘You already have a winning team so work with what you’ve got.’ “Can you imagine Gazza – who became a Rangers legend when they signed him from Lazio in 1995 – playing for the Hoops? “He was 21 then and ended up joining Tottenham instead. Beardsley, who was 27, stayed at Anfield while Rangers went on to win nine in a row. “Wim Jansen stopped the ten in 1998 but left after just one year in charge after falling out with then chief executive Jock Brown. It wasn’t until Martin O’Neill arrived in 2000 that Celtic were properly competitive again.” Walker can also see parallels between the people in charge of Celtic during their darkest hour and those currently responsible for running their rivals. After player/manager Graeme Souness kick-started the Rangers revival in 1986, Celtic went through eight managers. Davie Hay and McNeill had achieved success but lacked financial support (Hay, who wanted to sign Pat Nevin and Joe McLaughlin from Chelsea while Celtic were top of the table midway through Souness’s first campaign, was told to use his own money). Giovanni van Bronckhorst made a fortune for Rangers by reaching a European final, winning a Scottish Cup and qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League but was given a fraction of the war chest handed to his manipulative successor, the 22-match managerial rookie Michael Beale. Ally McCoist, Mark Warburton and Graeme Murty were equally ill-equipped to fulfil the demands of the job. Steven Gerrard won the Premiership during the Covid lock-out season but missed out on the eight other domestic trophies during his three years at the helm while Pedro Caixinha was an unqualified disaster. At Parkhead, Celtic’s rookies (Liam Brady and John Barnes) were similarly unsuccessful while Dr Jozef Venglos and Lou Macari, like Caixinha, arrived from out of left field and soon returned there. Unfortunately for Rangers, Sky pundit Walker cannot see a reversal of fortunes for them in the foreseeable future. “The turning point for Celtic was when Fergus McCann came in and saved the club [in 1994] but I don’t think Rangers have reached that stage yet,” he said. “Recruitment is absolutely everything and theirs has been poor. Winning a domestic cup is their best chance of a trophy at the moment and the new manager could do that almost immediately with the Viaplay Cup. “Success in Glasgow means winning the league, though, and with Celtic likely to strengthen again in January, I can’t see that happening. I don’t know what Rangers are going to do but whatever it is it will take time.”
