Rangers will be the Champions of Scotland once again come May – and maybe even before then. There, I said it, finally.
Even with Rangers on rampant form this season – and a lead which stretches well into the double digits – there’s been a lingering feeling in the back of my mind that this isn’t over till it’s over.
Celtic’s games in hand – their last hope in a season devoid of it at Parkhead – was the mirage over Rangers’ 21 point lead, the fact Celtic could cut it to 12 with two Old Firms to go conjuring up maybes in the heads of a few Rangers fans.
Conditioned to the post-Christmas collapse of the last two seasons, it’s a perfectly rational fear to have.
But after Celtic’s ill-fated trip to Dubai – a destination which has already worked it’s way into Scottish footballing folklore – the subsequent two weeks since has placed a nail over their coffin.
Rangers are tasked with driving it into their 10IAR dream.
For the second time this season, Rangers winning an Old Firm match has sent our rivals into free-fall with Celtic now going four matches without a Scottish topflight win for the first time in 21 years.
The first time Rangers beat Celtic this season – a 2-0 win at Parkhead – it kicked off a run of two wins in 12 games.
Since we dumped them 1-0 at Ibrox, they’ve yet to win a football match.
The defeat to Rangers and dropping of six points via draws in their last three games has ensured Rangers have an unassailable lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
Their faint hopes of games in hand saving them were also effectively extinguished by that draw with Livingston, the evidence clearly showing that there’s no guarantee they can haul it back to 14 points.
And even if they do, the notion that this laser-focused Rangers side would give up a five-game swing is not just fanciful nonsense, it’s utter fantasy.
Rangers have been everything this season that the Ibrox support wants their club to be – industrious, hard-working, technical, talented, ruthless, humble, focused, ambitious.
And come the final whistle in May, they’ll also be Champions.
Rangers supporters aren’t the only ones who believe the title is heading to Ibrox either, here’s what Celtic boss Neil Lennon had to say on the title race post-Livingston.
