Celtic roof could cave in at Ibrox and Rangers PSV PTSD may be their best derby hope – Hugh Keevins

Suddenly, it’s not just about Brendan Rodgers and the Celtic supporters’ post-Postecoglou panic when it comes to Ibrox this afternoon.

That is still very much high on the agenda, of course. But a question has arisen concerning Rangers manager Michael Beale and the way his team made a painful exit from the Champions League at the hands of PSV Eindhoven. We’ve not to call a 5-1 defeat a hammering, by order of the manager at his post-match press conference on Wednesday night. The opposition were “ruthless” and that’s the way to look at it, according to Beale.

Ruthless while dishing out a hammering is how most people saw it nevertheless. And we’ve not to forget that the team Rangers are playing today aren’t going into the match in a “fantastic place” either. All the boxes have been ticked then. Don’t mention the other team by their name, Celtic, in order to show the Rangers fans you know how to put them in their place.

Read More Related Articles Read More Related Articles

And never let your own team’s failings get in the way of saying: “What about them?” in reference to the team from across the road on the other side of the city. There is another awkward, pre-match quote from Rangers’ trip to Holland to get out of the way as well.

Looking ahead to Wednesday night’s game, Beale said: “If you can’t enjoy it and you can’t seize the opportunity in front of you, then you probably don’t deserve to be at our club.”

Point of order. If you’re the manager and you picked the ones who didn’t enjoy it and didn’t seize the opportunity in front of them, does that mean you probably don’t deserve to be at the club either?

Which brings us back to this afternoon and a derby which has now become about two managers instead of just one. When it comes to Rodgers, I simply don’t buy the one about Ibrox being the very best place to go to in search of inspiration in the wake of two goal-less games for Celtic, one of which led to cup elimination and the other one being the cause of two valuable league points being lost.

It is, without question, the very last place they should want to visit when Celtic are so out of form and history is tapping them on the shoulder waiting for a response. Celtic have not gone three competitive games in a row without scoring a goal since 1994. But that 29-year-old record could, on the balance of probabilities, be equalled today at Ibrox.

If you can’t score any against a clapped-out St Johnstone when you have 60,000 of your own fans inside your ground who are willing the ball into the net on your behalf then what chance do you have at the home of your greatest rivals on a day when you don’t have a solitary supporter to offer you vocal encouragement?

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers (Image: SNS Group)

Celtic are currently playing the most uninspiring football since Ronny Deila was the manager and they were closing the top tier of the ground on occasion through lack of public interest. Deila was tolerated until he lost a Scottish Cup tie to Rangers when they were a Championship side and Dermot Desmond dumped him and hired Rodgers first time around as an uplifting catalyst for change. And it worked. Almost too well, as it turns out.

When Brendan said a few days ago that Celtic had “No God-given right to win every single competition” in which they played he was being factually correct. The manager’s problem is the fans have been programmed to believe God favours them above all others.

They have a sense of entitlement Rodgers created on the back of a treble Treble, an invincible season of four draws and no league defeats and seven trophies won out of the seven he contested before leaving to further his career elsewhere. Now the same fans have a fear that Treble has turned to terrible.

Celtic are enjoying a time of unprecedented success. Rangers, conversely, have won two major trophies, the same number as St Johnstone, over the last decade. The thought of a shift in power within Glasgow is abhorrent to the Celtic fans and today has the potential – Eindhoven notwithstanding – for being difficult to take on their part.

Beale has form for being close by Celtic to punish them when they implode. It was under those circumstances he and Steven Gerrard last won a title for Rangers, and the prospect of a repeat is undeniable. Minus Gerrard of Arabia, of course.

Michael Beale

I have always referred to the Old Firm derby as being a separate life form, set aside from everyday football life because of its history of occasionally providing everything from the unfathomable to the unthinkable.

But you can still get foregone conclusions in a parallel universe. Rangers fans were anticipating Celtic getting a severe going-over until their team got one of their own to keep in Eindhoven on Wednesday.

That was a feeling based on having a reliable goalkeeper, a solid back four behind a lively midfield and numerous striking options. What happened in Holland questioned everyone of them except Jack Butland, who kept the final score within the bounds of decency.

At the same time, Celtic have to rely on more than hope that Eindhoven has traumatised Rangers. You wouldn’t need to be a structural engineer to know the roof is in danger of caving in at Celtic.

If Rodgers’ team lose at Ibrox today, the scale of the beating will determine the size of the backlash. If Beale’s team loses at home on the back of missing out on the Champions League, the same phrase can be applied to Rangers.

Have a nice day.