Tam McManus reckons the growing gulf between the Old Firm and the rest of Scottish football has never been wider as he backed the Glasgow giants to again trample over their rivals. And the Hotline is in full agreement after seeing the big two storm ahead early to take up their traditional slots at the Premiership summit.
Dave Kilpatrick said: “Tam McManus is bang on, the richer Celtic and Rangers get the further behind they leave the rest of our game. Hibs chairman Ron Gordon and the other behind the Deloitte report can spout off all they want about raising TV revenues but unless they can find a way to give every other team in Scotland £30million, the 37 year wait for a team outwith Glasgow will go on forever.”
Gerry Milligan, Erskine, added: “These 4-0 and 5-0 wins that Rangers and Celtic are wracking up will be commonplace for the rest of the season and we already know how the top three is going to look come May with Hearts destined to finish in behind the Old Firm. The rest will be detached pretty quickly and any of them could end up bottom. It’s the poorest league for years."
James Small said: “What does Motherwell’s defeat to Sligo Rovers and the 7-0 hammering dished out by AZ Alkmaar tell us about the Scottish game? It tells me that we have a two team league of Rangers and Celtic, the cost of the product is obscene, the fee to a domestic game should be halved creating an atmosphere inside grounds, and players should be learning ball skills and not jumping over silly obstacles as I have witnessed watching some clubs train. Until we do something drastic we will be the laughing stock of football.”
There’s agreement on just how far ahead the Old Firm are ahead of the rest but you can forget about a consensus when it comes to the debate on which team will come out on top this term. Colin McArdle, Lanarkshire, said: “Celtic’s lightening-speed football must be terrifying for the rest of Scottish football. The only hope Rangers have of stopping the tsunami when they come to Paradise next month is to play 10 on the goal line with a lone striker up front and hope for the best.”
Bur Rangers fan John Bruce hit back to say: “It’s not like Celtic fans to get carried away, is it? After just three games they already have a double goal-of-the-season winner in Jota and the league is now just a formality.
“Interesting, then, that only Greg Taylor made Sky's Premiership team of the week, while four Rangers players were selected. Not only are these cocky Celtic fans no longer content at being handed a league title only three-quarters of the way through a season, they now believe that they have won the league three-quarters of the way through the first month. Remember this time two years ago, when they sang about 10-in-a-row being a certainty?”
Graeme Souness has refused to back down from his “man’s game” controversy and James Forsyth, Bellshill, backed the former Liverpool and Rangers ace as he said: “What's with the snowflakes out there? Souness wasn't digging at the women's game with his comments.
“Too long men’s football has been ruined by divers. We need forwards like Colin Stein and the late John Hughes who took the knocks and came back for more, letting their skills win the day. The man's game should be a man's game.”
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