As Celtic lose manager Ange Postecoglou to Spurs, there is a temptation from a Rangers point of view to engage in the sort of hubris which welcomed the Australian to Scotland.
The ex-Socceroos manager had joined a Parkhead club in the midst of turmoil, Rangers having won 55 and subsequently halting Celtic’s march to 9.75* in a row.
But that hubris off the park, Rangers fans gloating at their shiny Premiership trophy and Postecoglou’s profile, appeared to sink into the boardroom and then on to the field.
Rangers surrendered their brief moment of Scottish footballing dominance to a Celtic buoyed by the charisma of the Greek-Aussie and £40m worth of signings.
Now, having scooped up five of the six available trophies in his brief stint in Scotland, Ange Postecoglou is set to move to Spurs and there should be absolutely no-one at Rangers gloating.
Stumbling Rangers owe fans proper Celtic challenge
The reality is that those in the Gers backroom slipped up dramatically in the wake of 55, with the club’s domestic downturn an ongoing embarrassment to supporters who have been consistently shortchanged by the directors, management and players.
Rangers fans can get distracted by what’s happening across the city but, if there is the slightest whiff of it inside Ibrox, we can forget using Celtic’s insecurity to our advantage.
Postecoglou has been backed in the transfer market and his squad of players – many from the far East – were largely derived via the Australian’s negotiating power and his familiarity with them.
Now Postecoglou is Spurs-bound, the situation is a delicate one for Celtic, who have many players in that squad that have just felt the plates shift underneath them.
Ange Postecoglou now Spurs bound but focus must be on Ibrox
Rangers, in the midst of a summer rebuild and having developed some identity and momentum under Michael Beale, don’t have any argument to present to Celtic.
A 3-0 win in the Scottish Premiership when all was said is done is scant consolation when three trophies sit in the cabinet of our rivals. Anyone suggesting otherwise needs a reality check.
Yes, the club has looked a more fluid and hungry unit under the former Ibrox assistant but the record books will show that Celtic’s name adorns a fifth treble in seven seasons under our Premiership watch.
They have won 17 of the last 21 trophies and it is Rangers, and Rangers alone, who have fallen short in their quest to halt them.
Before a single Rangers fan – or anyone inside the club for that matter – wants to gloat and point at Celtic, Postecoglou or even Spurs, they would do well instead turning the focus to salvaging the Ibrox side’s legacy.
Next season means more than just dominance and, with Rangers’ world record trophy haul on the line, we must keep focused on what victory means to us and not what any upheaval might do to Celtic.
Recognition of Postecoglou’s exit to Spurs is fine. The same kind of hubris that greeted him in Scotland – or which might be reserved for the next guy – can be left back in June 2021.
