Whilst everyone knows that only one team in Glasgow can be on top at any given moment, try tell that to any Rangers or Celtic fan when they’re in the midst of a downturn.
There have been several times over the course of the Old Firm duopoly where one side has dominated the other and we’ve been told it’s a never-ending cycle destined for eternity.
And each and every time, such apocalyptic doomsday mongering has been proven reality only in the minds of gloating journalists, fans and ex-players.
The reality is that in Glasgow’s goldfish bowl you’re never more than one week out from catastrophe or three games from crisis.
It’s also a dynamic which can flip faster than either team blinks in a title tussle.
As Celtic ran out 4-0 winners v Kilmarnock, Rangers blinked first this season too with a 0-0 draw at Hearts the end of the title race already. Well, apparently.
With Rangers going through the mire this summer and supporters running out of patience, Celtic are flying high off the back of a successful US tour and stability under Brendan Rodgers.
The narrative has already been written, heck, some bookmakers are already paying out on another Parkhead trophy parade, but it’s on Rangers to flip the script.
Same old Rangers, same old result
Rangers might not have explicitly said it but the club’s recent actions certainly speak volumes.
There is now clear acceptance that the club’s bumbling leadership post-55 let slip our brief grasp of dominance at a crucial moment in the nation’s game.
Gifting Celtic back-to-back Champions League qualifications at our expense, Rangers’ calamitous domestic form of the last few campaigns stings and the scar tissue is raw.
Rangers fans were promised change and patience is running out with regards it being delivered.
Several crucial players from last season – ranging from Abdallah Sima to Connor Goldson – have now left the building.
What we’ve been left with is the inconsistent, unproven, overpaid, injury-laden options which have failed to deliver for the last two or so seasons.
I’m not going to sit here and list names, but there are far too many in our team on high wages who are yet to prove they have the legs, the quality or the guts to cut it at Ibrox.
There is still time for Rangers to make the necessary additions and upgrades to the team but at the moment our regression from even last season has been stark.
Rangers and Philippe Clement want patience from supporters but, paradoxically, will play 10 of the players for whom patience and opportunity should’ve worn thin two transfer windows ago on the opening day of the season.
If Rangers are serious about moving on from the tumult of Douglas Park’s latter Ibrox reign, we need signings and without them things are going to turn very toxic, very fast.
Supporters will have patience with a new batch, they won’t with the tried and tested lot who’re yet to deliver.
Rangers fans need a new hero
The Rangers squad also needs more authority and leadership.
Scottish Premiership opposition will smell blood and there are 37 more bruising battles to get through before the end of the campaign.
That so many are already crowning Celtic champions is a testament to the stability at Parkhead but there is nothing quite like the armour of confidence.
When tails are up and morale is high it’s easy to win football matches. Heck, Rangers pummelled Hearts 5-0 at Ibrox in February mid-title race.
But the true test of a team’s mettle comes in moments of adversity and it’s in these situations where heroes are born and decisions taken on players.
There is an emanant softness about Rangers on and off the park, the big bad world of Scottish football too much for our pampered team.
We struggle with aggressive football, we struggle with hurty words, we struggle with the pressure. It has got to change.
Celtic have routinely proven they have the mettle to grind out results when the winds blow in the opposite direction at Parkhead, Rangers are yet to do so without folding.
These next few weeks will go a long way to deciding if Rangers have what it takes to jostle with Celtic at the latter end this season.
If the club can get some new heroes to emerge from the darkness of this God awful grey Scottish summer, then the story of this season might have some chapters still to be written after all.
