With Celtic dropping more points and Rangers still flying high, the good news just keeps coming in…
The famous, celebrated, and stereotypically insane, American author Hunter S Thompson once said good news is rare these days and every glittering ounce of it should be cherished. Clearly Hunter was not a Rangers fan.
Honestly, the Gers didn’t even play this weekend but you’d never know because the feel-good factor has been absolutely off the charts of late, snowballing into an avalanche carrying us all into one of, if not the, most important and prolific title wins of in our history – a history littered with 54 other success story seasons, mind you.
Our old rivals Celtic, with egos inflated to the bursting after being handed a free, and undeserved, gift of the Premiership crown last season, reckoned they were untouchable. 9 years of dominance, punctuated by a player wage bill worth double the rest of the league combined, wasn’t going to change. Indeed, many assumed it would never change. 10 in a row, 11, 12, who is to stop them? Many publications, least of all fourfourtwo magazine, echoed this prevailing view.
But reality finally hit home this weekend as the Hoops limped to a 2-1 defeat at home to St Mirren, the first time they’ve lost such a fixture in 31 years, leaving them 23 points behind Rangers with only two games to make up. An impossible gulf, by any stretch of the imagination. Aye, sure, the fans have been out protesting (read: rioting) for months now, but there’s always been that ideal that those games in hand could shift the balance of power back again. Or a Light Blue meltdown, those happen all the time.
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That’s all changed now. Everything’s changed now. Had Hunter S Thompson been a Gers fan, and still been alive, his cynical worldview today may have been reversed. Without even kicking a ball, it seems Rangers have been declared champions elect by all but possibly Steven Gerrard and this blog. Players, pundits, fans and even Neil Lennon, looking so delightfully depressed, has started getting his excuses in – ie, blaming anyone but himself.
Not even the most optimistic Bear could have predicted such a turn of events. Rangers sitting unbeaten, 23 points atop the table, as Celtic languish in a battle for 3rd place. Meanwhile, Gerrard hasn’t been sitting on his laurels, with Jack Simpson joining from Bournemouth a few days back and others in the pipeline, there’s an urgency and hunger to get this one, the 55, over the line at the earliest. Bad news has been more the rarity.
Need some more? Well here’s something to brighten your day, Stevie G affirming his loyalty to the Gers and ambition not just for success, but sustained success, at Ibrox. As quoted by the Daily Record;
"“You’ve just got to go along and think about the next day. I am really happy where I am. I’m not looking over the fence, I’m not trying to get down south, I’m here under a strong contract with good support from the board. I’ve got dreams of one day managing teams down south but I am in no rush, I haven’t got a date or a time so I haven’t really thought too much about what Jamie said.I’m focused on trying to stay in the now with Rangers.”"
There you have it, black and white. We all know the gaffer will one day look to take over the reigns in Anfield, but he knows as well as we do that Klopp will be untouchable, poor form be damned, for a long time yet. Winning the Champions League and Premier League in successive seasons will do that for you at just about any club not named Chelsea.
Meanwhile, he’s made himself an absolute hero here. Why should he leave? His statue will be front, square, and centre regardless. He’s a club legend and will be forever adored by anyone that bleeds blue. There’s no better time to be manager of Rangers and he’s worked hard, despite the hard times and myriad of doubters, to get to it. Let him enjoy it.
That goes for us too. Hunter S Thompson was wrong about the lack of good news, but he was right that we should cherish it when it comes. We sat and absorbed 10 years of banter from our neighbours in green, the results, the demotions, the takeover, the financial woes, etc. Now it’s our turn, rub it in, go to town, slap it up ’em. Enjoy this moment Bears, because it’s finally ours.