Celtic: Here we go Five in-a-Row?
Article by James Payne
Celtic won at Pittodrie on Sunday, beating the home side 1-0 and in the process completed a clean sweep of victories over Aberdeen for the season. The decisive goal was scored not long after the start of the second half by Scott Brown who had initiated the breakaway move with a superb tackle on the Dons’ combative ex-Celt Barry Robson 25 yards from Celtic’s own goal line.
It was one of the better matches Celtic has been involved in in the league this season with the home team enjoying a lot of possession and attacking positions whilst Celtic repeatedly broke from deep to cause the Reds’ defence real worries. Aberdeen had one great chance to open the scoring when Mark Reynolds could not guide his shot the right side of the post and Ryan Shankland really should have equalised with a diving header late in the match. Celtic spurned two very good chances to take the lead in the first half and after going in front only two very good double saves by Aberdeen’s own Scott Brown prevented Celtic from increasing their lead. It was good feisty stuff on and off the pitch.
The game pretty much encapsulated Aberdeen’s challenge- good, sometimes worrying but ultimately not quite strong enough to overcome Celtic. Derek McInnes’ side has had patches of playing pretty well in all 4 games with Celtic this season – ironically the most dangerous they looked was during the first thirty five minutes of the match in early March that Celtic ended up winning 4-0 - but has never truly looked like beating us especially as each game has neared its end. Such occasions as Sunday’s encounter have been rare these last three years and it is to be hoped that such a competitive environment is at the very least maintained next season. But will it?
There are various factors which will come into play that make my guess precisely that- a guess. However right now I think Aberdeen won’t get much nearer, in the league, to Celtic than in the one drawing to a close and that in a year’s time Celtic will have won 5 consecutive league titles. That this prediction is made as confidently is disturbing – we are pretty good but do not yet have that aura of (domestic) invincibility last present during the Martin O’Neill era.
Nevertheless a challenge is to be welcomed and it is not implausible that it will be a strong one.
I think Aberdeen’s cause will be helped by the likelihood of Celtic’s dealings in the transfer market this summer being more ‘volatile’ than its own and the Champions’ focus on qualifying for the Champions’ League group phase (or at worst the equivalent in the Europa League) will pre-occupy Celtic’s thinking in the early weeks of next season meaning that Celtic could have another sticky start to the season. Aberdeen will be competing in the Europa League qualifiers themselves but I would imagine that manager McInnes’ main desire for his team will be for it to make a far better start in the league than in this season rather than going for a major breakthrough in Europe- though I hope his team is, like Celtic, playing in European competition at least until December.
Aberdeen will have continuity in terms of players and are maybe fortunate to not, yet, have players who are attracting much in the way of interest from other clubs. However Aberdeen’s support will, I would imagine, be expecting their team to make a bigger impact in the domestic cup competitions next season and overall the Dons were probably helped in their title bid this time by playing 13 fewer games than Celtic over the season- Aberdeen will hope and probably expect to be seriously involved in two or even three competitions after January and I am not sure that they have the basic quality or depth of squad to ‘get the trip’ if it does. And remember even after Aberdeen’s improvement this year Celtic still clinched the league by the second of May and are at present 14 points in front of a Dons’ side which has had nothing but the league to concentrate on since the 31st of January. I would like Aberdeen to improve further as at the moment we probably only have a 1 ¾ horse race.
There is of course another imponderable for next season and it is one which could yet involve Aberdeen. That great imponderable at the moment is ‘Rangers’ who as at the time of writing has quite a bit to do before they know they will be in the top league next season. Stuart McCall’s team won the first leg of their play-off tie against Queen of the South in Dumfries on Saturday and assuming they don’t blow things at Ibrox would then face Hibs over two games . If the Edinburgh side is beaten a further 2 games against either Motherwell or Kilmarnock would decide the outcome. The only one of those potential opponents I would be pretty sure ‘Rangers’ would beat would be Kilmarnock whose form is beginning to resemble that of Hibs’ at the tail-end of last season.
‘Rangers’ has huge problems off the park – the takeover led by convicted tax evader Dave King has not as yet produced the expected input of vast sums of money to erase the new club’s financial difficulties and as a result the apparently malign influence of Mike Ashley still seems strong. Interim manager Stuart McCall looks to be a serious improvement on the ludicrously overpaid Ally McCoist but ‘Rangers’ improvement is patchy- and it would require a cataclysmic collapse by both Celtic and Aberdeen for ‘Rangers’ to possibly challenge next time around unless King’s promised millions actually materialise. Should McCall decide to walk after their fate is known – I doubt he will if promotion is won but then stranger things happen every other week at Ibrox- McInnes may be tempted to south west Glasgow.
As I have said before I do not relish the idea of ‘Rangers’ playing in the Scottish Premiership and would add that there are plenty in Scotland who will not share the glee of the Scottish sporting media should ‘Rangers’ make it up. The media will hark on about how it will increase competition for the League and in time they may be right though as I say I doubt it will be next season. No, what the media want is Rangers and the old days back. That motley crew of pen-pushing toadies who are capable of being schmoozed into decades of sycophancy by succulent lamb and red wine have not the decency to admit the former and the intelligence to realise that the past in all its Employee Benefit Trust scheme cheating is something that just some of us are disgusted is a part of our past.
See you in a fortnight.
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