As Rangers fans lick their wounds, they’re getting pretty sick and tired of watching their Celtic rivals celebrating.
The Gers have repeatedly fallen short in the challenge to overcome our Old Firm rivals and it is a sore reality that they are on the verge of ursurping Rangers as the ‘world’s most successful club’.
But whilst all is not lost – Rangers prepare to go in a different direction under Philippe Clement this summer – fans must see change in the weeks ahead, literally and symbolically.
Clement’s defence in the wake of Old Firm defeat has always been the tight nature of these games during his tenure in charge.
The Belgian manager’s more positive outlook serves to try and reassure fans that things will soon be different.
But as the headlines spin, and the questions mount, Clement’s team of perennial underachievers has earned the unlikeliest of praise from within Celtic Park.
Celtic star claims Rangers are a ‘good team’
Ordinarily so cocky in this fixture, James Forrest bucked the trend with some positive words about Rangers following his side’s Scottish Cup victory.
The long-serving Celtic winger has come back into their side recently and played 70 minutes as Rangers huffed, puffed, had yet another goal ruled out by VAR, and failed to blow the door down.
Claiming that Rangers are a ‘good team’ the Celtic winger let slip a rare moment of Parkhead recognition for an unconvincing Gers side who will need to put up better resistance next season.
“I don’t think we were at our best but it shows how far we’ve come that we can dig in and win when we’re not at our best,” Forrest told BBC Sport.
“Rangers are a good team. Maybe the conditions, the pitch, maybe the occasion? I don’t know. Sometimes that’s football. We dug in, got a clean sheet and won, that’s the most important thing.”
Why Old Firm ‘gap’ chatter is hyperbole
The Scottish Cup Final defeat to Celtic was pretty much a microcosm of the matches between the sides this season.
A nervous Rangers suffer a setback and struggle to recover as a composed Celtic’s depth and/or quality makes the difference.
We’ve seen it all season long.
The Rangers team just do not seem to have that same level of belief that Celtic boast and it hurts us.
But with the mental hurdles still to be cleared, and whilst Celtic take the plaudits this time around, spare me the notion there is a massive gap between the sides.
Momentum is a hell of a thing in the Old Firm derby but you do have to go back to Steven Gerrard’s tenure to see the last time it was with Rangers.
Philippe Clement can turn things with a big win in the fixture and as disappointing as the season was, Rangers have to find a creative way to keep within touching distance of the Parkhead side next campaign.
Celtic, boosted by the Champions League fortune our immense coefficient contribution has guaranteed them for the last three seasons, will strengthen.
But if Rangers get it right this summer, box clever in these games next season, and sort out the monumental, spaghetti-like mess that is our injury situation, then we’ve got more than a fighting chance.
Hyperbole and indulgence are the order of the day no matter which side comes out on top on Old Firm Day, even if it’s been missing for a while around Govan.
But don’t let it trick you into believing that there is some kind of insurmountable gap between these two teams.
