Destiny has become a topic of conversation. It is my destiny, I suspect, never to be liked very much because the game of football doesn’t much care for opinion givers. We’re a pest.
But, as Fergus McCann said when he ran Celtic in the 1990s, and Pedro Caixinha repeated at Rangers three decades later, a dog barks and the caravan moves on. And since I have a caravan in the East Neuk of Fife I can say that with deadly accuracy. Michael Beale has finally clocked on at Ibrox as manager and it is under interesting circumstances.
A nine-point deficit in a league championship is an allowable juncture at which to take stock and make arrangements for a change of manager if you’re the disadvantaged club. Giovanni van Bronckhorst could have no issue with that on a practical level now he’s in receipt of his severance money. But a nine-point deficit after 15 games in a 38-match league does not determine title winner from runner-up.