Another Hampden cup final, and another winners medal for Celtic's illustrious captain Callum Mcgregor. That's now 15 across youth and senior football and he has picked up a winners medal every time. No matter where you are in the world, that sort of consistency is incredible, and utterly terrifying for your rivals.
The importance of having such an obsessive winner as the figurehead of your playing squad cannot be understated, filling into the shoes of his predecessor Scott Brown excellently. In contrast, their greatest foes Rangers have just rewarded consistent failure by inducting James Tavernier into their hall of fame. Not only has he been an ever present in numerous cup failures since his teams promotion to the top flight, he has been directly at fault for a large portion of the goals conceded to Celtic.
Another alarming comparison for Rangers is the stark difference in the two clubs recruitment history. Celtic were aware of the high probability of talismanic figures such as Josip Juranovic and Giorgos Giakoumakis leaving in the January window. They responded with an aggressive and astute approach, drafting in Canadian full back Alistair Johnston and South Korean forward Oh Hyeon-gyu. Both players have fitted in seamlessly.
Not only were they replaced, the Celtic hierarchy had no intention of standing still. Japanese duo Yuki Kobayashi and Tomoki Iwata were brought in, with the latter playing a key role in seeing out the 2-1 win in the league cup final yesterday.
Rangers however have not had the same success. Midfielders Cantwell and Raskin have looked promising since their January arrivals, however not to the extent that Michael Beale felt confident enough to trust them in their biggest game of the season. Their front line has been crying out for an added degree of quality with Ryan Kent, Fashion Sakala and Alfredo Morelos seemingly not being capable of hitting the heights of a regular trophy winning attack.
Perhaps the biggest lingering worry for the team from Govan is the fact that Celtic are growing increasingly close to overtaking their 'world record breaking' trophy haul. If the hoops can clinch the treble this year it will bring the totals to 116 and 117 respectively. You would have to expect there would be every chance of that total being breached next season.
Celtic's relentless winning form will also be rewarded with the automatic riches of Champions League football once again this year. This is anything but a guarantee for Rangers (if they finish second as expected) and will lead to them falling further away financially. For the first time in years, Celtic seem to be spending with the intention of pushing towards competing with Europe's elites, as opposed to just staying one step ahead of Rangers as we have been guilty of in the past.
With Ange Postecoglou's ambition, coupled with the support of the Celtic board, the gap will only naturally increase. To coin a phrase, 'the other mob' may need to spend money which they do not have to keep up, which is admittedly a possibility historically speaking.
Due to the incessant noise in the press last week from multiple Rangers players, perhaps the most pleasing aspect of Celtic's victory was the dignified silence which was kept despite plenty of bait being levelled at them. If this was a deliberate tactic from Beale, you would have to imagine that he would be having a re think for the next derby in April.
Comments