While their opponents toil, a domestic treble is on for the Belgian rebuilding Ibrox life.
Rangers have parked their tank on Celtic’s lawn and Philippe Clement could fire the first round of ammunition on Sunday if Aberdeen are defeated in the Viaplay Cup Final and the first major trophy of the season goes to Ibrox.
A domestic treble could then begin to look arguably like a possibility for the Belgian. And after Rangers’ win over Real Betis to secure a place in the last sixteen of the Europa League, the manager is entitled to think that result in Seville topped an inconsequential home win for Celtic over Feyenoord in the Champions League on the way to Europe’s exit door.
So, when it comes to the business of giving credit where it is due, any debate over the outcome at Hampden on Sunday has to be pitched at a higher level than penalty kicks awarded to, or not conceded by, Rangers. A topic of conversation which demeans Aberdeen at the same time after their victory over a Bundesliga side, Eintracht Frankfurt, while departing the Europa Conference League in midweek.
Every now and then we feel the need to loosen the lid on the pressure cooker within Scottish football. My old sparring partner, Scott Brown, bless him, performed that function by publicly stating there was no way Barry Robson’s side would get a penalty in the cup final.
All that stuff stimulates conversation and re-inforces supporters’ belief in dishonest referees who are under orders from the game’s ruling bodies to indulge in match fixing. That’s not sensationalism. It is the only interpretation possible of the theory that there is institutionalised bias within our game.
It is a grievance eagerly nursed by the fans who need to cling to the idea of a global conspiracy in order to help them through times of stress and strain. Rangers fans must have a Kevin Clancy because his name is Kevin Clancy and that’s enough for them to be suspicious of his every move.
Celtic supporters need to re-assure themselves that someone like John Beaton is an agent of the dark forces at work against their club. A presumption of malice, as opposed to innocence, helps nobody, least off all today’s match official, Don Robertson.
But here’s the thing. Why did Aberdeen campaign so loudly for a greater share of the tickets available for Hampden this afternoon if we are to believe that their fate is already pre-ordained and the only final in any doubt today is the one concerning Strictly Come Dancing?
Do people really spend all that money on admission and travel while suspecting, but overlooking, treachery in advance? In the meantime, it will be a landmark moment if Rangers beat Aberdeen by legitimate means.
A potentially pivotal state of affairs unable to be dismissed as an irrelevance by anyone displeased by that outcome at the national stadium. It would be the first tangible sign of the extent to which Clement has exerted his authority at a place of work which had declined to the alarming degree which necessitated the removal of Michael Beale, Philippe’s successor.
The opposite side of that particular coin, though, is that failure to beat opponents who have languished in the bottom half of the Premiership table for most of the season would be construed as a form of industrial misconduct within that workplace. Negligence by virtue of failing to beat a team transparently inferior to them, and without access to the kind of budget which allows Rangers to have so many multi-million pound signings at their disposal.
The warm glow being basked in by the Rangers fans post-Seville would turn to a Wintry chill if those who accuse some experienced players at Ibrox of being serial bottlers on the big occasion were allowed to come out to play. Win and Rangers put pressure on Celtic to dig deep in the January transfer window for fear of there being evidence of a shift in the balance of power within a city that doesn’t do the transfer of power very well.
Those who believe certain games are knowingly rigged won’t be troubled by either argument because they’ll give the occasion a miss on the grounds of complicity. But they would also have assumed that Rangers’ appeal against Jose Cifuentes’ red card against Dundee would have been upheld to enable him to make the cup final on the grounds of favouritism.
Rangers, I think, chanced their arm with the appeal. If they had a full complement of players available for the final they wouldn’t have gone out on a limb over someone who has yet to prove there is anything extraordinary about him. It was their way of acknowledging the squad, while restored under a managerial craftsman, is, Seville notwithstanding, yet to be termed the finished article.
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