Can Celtic win 10 in a Row?

Rangers liquidation

During the 1990s and 2000s, Rangers frequently dispatched financial losses. By the time of 2009, Rangers approximately owed Lloyds Banking group millions.  In 2011 the amount due to Lloysd reduced to 18 million however, Rangers had been in a dispute with HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs) regarding the use of an employee benefit trust fund (EBT) which is an employee-owner that provides a company’s workforce. A bill increasing to approximately £49 million, including interest and penalties, was assessed in 2010. Rangers argued that their EBT scheme was a legal method of tax avoidance.  The scale of the potential liability led then Chairman Alistair Johnston   to admit in 2011 that the club could go out of business.  Months later after David Murray sold 85.3% of the clubs interest to Craig Whyte for £1 and  Rangers officially entered administration on 14 February 2012, after appointing London-based financial advisers Duff&Phelps as administrators.

 In 2012 The Company was sold to Sevco Scotland Ltd.  While the manager, Ally McCoist and a number of players were willing to transfer, other first team players such as team captain Steven Davis, Steven Naismith and Steven Whittaker refused to have their contracts transferred and became free agents.

The financial collapse of Rangers resulted in a great deal of discussion within Scottish football. Initially it was proposed by the Scottish Premier League (SPL) that Rangers should be given re-entry straight into the SPL. The SPL clubs rejected this application by a 10-1 vote with only Kilmarnock voting for.  The next season Rangers played in the fourth tier of Scottish football.

Craig Whyte presided over the darkest period in Rangers history

 

The years after Rangers Liquidation

Since Rangers were stuck in the lower leagues that made the Celtic league campaign a lot easier.  It took the pressure off Celtic in Scotland however; it focused this pressure a lot on European football.  Celtic dropped the number of points in the 11/12 season (93) to a much less impressive 79 in 12/13 thanks mainly to Rangers absence.  However, European success was on the high. Celtic acquired 10 points in the Champions League Group Stages, finishing second, managing to beat Barcelona 2-1 at Parkhead which will be remembered by mostly all Celtic fans particularly Rod Stewart who was spotted crying in the crowd.  Celtic were later knocked out of the tournament by Juventus.

Celtic improved the points in the next season to 99 but European success decreased as they finished bottom of Group H in the Champions league which left many Celtic fans disappointed.

Rangers next 2 years were 2 promotions under Ally McCoist. They got 83 points in the first season and 102 in the second. The arguably new club were improving but were still a very poor team under poor management.

 

Celtic's memorable night in Europe was at odds with Rangers fortunes at the same time 

 

Ronny’s Recruitment

The Norwegian came over before the start of 2014/15 season as Lennon left.  The new hoops boss was expected to add a new element of attacking, exciting football. Many fans were frustrated after NK Maribor kicked the hoops out of the champions qualifying round so that they would join the “boring” Europa League. Celtic performed satisfactory in the group and were then drawn against Inter Milan.  They drew 3-3 at Parkhead with a late John Guidetti Equalizer. Later at the San Siro, Fredy Guarín scored a stunner to end Celtic’s Europa League campaign.  Ronny Deila’s team gained 92 points from Scottish league campaign that season.

 

 

First old firm encounter

During the 14/15 season Celtic drew Rangers in the Scottish League Cup Semi-Final. The first encounter . A lot of anticipation grew as the tie was known for months and when it eventually came it was a fiery game. Celtic were expected to hammer Rangers while for the Ibrox, Championship side they saw the game as an opportunity to announce they were back on the stages.  The game ended 2-0 with goals from Griffiths and Commons although it could’ve and probably should have been been a lot more.

Continuing with Deila

Deila 2^nd season was a very poor season for Celtic fans expectations.  Celtic won the league relatively comfortably making it 5 League Titles in a row. Their League campaign was more of the same although many saw a loss of confidence and probably the worst ever Celtic team.  Just like the previous season Aberdeen finished 2^nd and this season were undefeated against Celtic at Pittrodrie. Hearts also joined the league after getting relegated in 13/14 season and finished a promising 3^rd.  Dundee United had a very disappointing campaign with the bottom spot. In Europe Celtic yet again lost in the last qualifying round to Malmö. They joined the Europa league and finished 4^th in a group that also contained Ajax, Fenerbahçe and Molde FK from Norway.

 

 

Rangers Revolution

Rangers finally won promotion back to the SPL in 2015/16 the previous season in the championship they were 3^rd and were blown away eventual Champions Hearts and crushed by Motherwell in the promotion play-off final, losing 6-1 on aggregate.

Their contenders were Leith giants, Hibernian. Rangers looked like a new evolved team in terms of quality. Mark Warbuton was set to take them to the next level and at the start of the season they thrashed Hibs 6-2 showing that promotion was evident. 

 Warbuton brought in new English talent such as Wes Foderingham, James Tavernier, Martyn Waghorn as well as many other influential players such as Andy Halliday. They cruised the league but Hibernian were left unsatisfied finishing 3^rd with Falkirk getting the 2^nd spot.  In the promotion play-offs Falkirk beat Hibs in the semis but lost in the final to Kilmarnock. Rangers won the League and gained promotion with an 81 point tally. The season however was not remembered for not the league campaign but for the Scottish Cup Semi.  

14 months after the last fixture, Rangers aim was to win. They were playing well and Celtic were performing under their standards. The game started and was very intense; Kenny Millers early shot being saved showed that it was a whole different game than the year before.

Miller later scored in the match which was the first goal Rangers scored against Celtic since reforming. It sparked the lights into the Rangers fans hearts and this was the first indication that Celtic’s 10 in a row chances were decreasing slightly. 

Erik Sviatchenko then equalized in the 50^th minute with a header and it went to extra time. In the first 15 minutes Barrie McKay scored a fantastic goal and Rogic made it level again later in the game.

The game went to penalties and Rangers won 5-4. It was a major spark for Rangers and some believed it was a return for Scottish competitive football and doubt for a famous 10 in a row for Celtic.

 

Rangers beat Celtic in the Scottish Cup Semi-final, the start of an eventual come-back..??

 

 

Has this season been everything we’ve come to expect?

 With 25 games gone so far in the Scottish Premiership Celtic have looked unstoppable under new manager Brendan Rodgers however, Rangers have not. In terms of many people’s predictions of the new Rangers joining the premiership some are not surprised. Rangers are currently sitting in third place behind Aberdeen and a significant amount of points behind leaders Celtic.  Some say that a new promoted team already being 3^rd place is a very large achievement but Rangers fans expectations were always going to be higher.

It has showed the poor quality of Scottish football and the inconsistency of over half of the league. Six of the twelve teams have negative goal difference and win to lose ratio and even 5^th place St. Johnstone have only acquired 2 positive. This shows that they are not a threat to Celtic in any form and they shall never gain consistency from poor management and morale.  Teams such as Aberdeen and Hearts have done reasonably well against Rangers but I think the Rangers team will have more motivation and drive and eventually pull away from the likes of Aberdeen.  This means that the only team to stop Celtic getting to TEN in a row is Rangers.

 

Players in and players out

The future of teams is mostly transfers and sometimes youth systems and Celtic will dominate in both factors.  They will gain Champions league money every season and will make tens of millions.  Celtic will be able to afford great players and Brendan Rodgers wants to turn them into a strong Champions league outfit.  Rangers through the Europa League will make a significant amount although a miniscule quantity in comparison to Celtics Champions League money and transfer dealings.  This will mean that they will be unable to beat Celtic on the profit and transfer front in the next several years. 

In terms of youth players or promising future stars, the Bhoys will win another on at front again.  Rangers do have many great young players such as Barrie McKay, Jordan Rossiter and even 15 year old Billy Gilmour.  All players are expected to transform into very influential players for Rangers and could go for tens of millions. For Celtic they have Jack Aitchison, Calvin Miller and Anthony Ralston coming out the youth system as well as Kieran Tierney, Moussa Dembele and Tom Rogic in the first team. 

 Those Celtic first team players have already established themselves and will leave Celtic for all over 10 or even 20 million pounds in the next few years.

If Celtic win 10 titles in a row the money argument will be vital as it will stop Rangers overtaking Celtic on the player ability scales and will not allow them to enter competitions to have any chance to make enough profits to buy good enough players to challenge.

 

Is Dembele Celtic's £20million man...????

 

Future Managers

With Brendan Rodgers performing great at Celtic so far and Warbuton leaving Rangers many are asking will the 2 clubs have different managers before the 2020-2021 season. Rangers will obviously find a replacement for Mark Warbuton and Graeme Murty will not be that man.   Rodgers stated that he had a 5 year plan to turn Celtic into a strong Champions League outfit. Therefore, he says he wants to stay but will he be satisfactory enough to stay for that time. He will clearly have to win the Scottish Premier league every season and will have to win as many Cups or League Cups as possible. Rangers will want a manager that will challenge Celtic every season and eventually win the title before they win 10 titles in sequence.

 

How long will Brendan Rodgers remain as Celtic manager...????

 

 

If Rangers stop Celtic

The main reasons why Rangers would stop Celtic would be because Celtic could lose consistency, Rangers would find a star signing or manager and could also be profit from European success.

Celtic would have to have immense consistency every season for the next 5 years and it is likely that this consistency would be lost.  Some have suggested that Rangers only have to think about being more consistent than any of the other teams which would be an extremely probable chance

In the next 5 seasons Rangers are bound to find a class signing that will have a significant impact on their team.  They already have good young players as well as youth players which could be possibly effective.   So far this season we haven’t seen one player for Rangers that looks that impressive but in the future Rangers could have a very promising youth or very important loanee player. 

Rangers should qualify for the Europa League soon and could go very far before Celtic win 10 in a row. This season if Rangers finish 2^nd or 3^rd place the League, which is very likely, or win the Scottish cup they will be able to qualify for a Europa League qualifying round. The Ibrox side aren’t expected to get to the group stage next season but in the next few years they could even go as far as the knockout rounds. They will earn a significant amount more than Scottish football gives them and open up a gap between them and Scotland’s other sides. Even though they will still earn much less than Celtic they will make a profit and will be able to gain consistency from playing better quality teams in the Europa League.  Therefore, they will be a big threat to Celtics campaign.

If Celtic win 10 in a row

They main reasons Celtic will win 10 in a row would be European profit, player development and transfers.

If Celtic could qualify for the champions league each season for the next 5 years they could make over 30 million each year and over 100 million over this time span.  This allows Celtic to dominate in the finical front. The European tournament will make Celtic more consistent and a better overall team from playing in high quality games. Rodgers wants Celtic to be a much more competitive team in European and his ambition will be vital if 10 in a row is to happen.

 Celtic have shown they have a better youth system and better scouting with players such as Dembele, Rogic and Tierney. Therefore it will be almost impossible for Rangers the next few years.  Celtic have also improved drastically this season in terms of their management, ambition, intensity and character. If these players are to leave they will go for massive profits so, teams such as Rangers will never catch up finically and player quality in the next several years.

 Since the improvement of Rangers and Celtic will happen in the next few years the league will be more attractive.  Players will be more urged to join clubs like Celtic as they appear to be ambitious and the players can get game time in European competitions. They will be more appealing to Premier League clubs and could be sold for money more than the whole cost of the Rangers team.

It looks however like Celtic are going to be unstoppable in their quest for 10 League Titles in a row.

by Innes O'Donnell