Shatter 10 in a row? Forget about Celtic
IF Pedro Caixinha and Rangers want to stop 10 in a row they need to forget all about Celtic.
Gaps between Parkhead and Ibrox don’t matter right now.
It’s the gap between Aberdeen and Rangers and the proximity of St Johnstone which should be the main issue at Ibrox.
As they say in horse racing, the form is in the book. The similarities to a situation two decades ago are staggering.
Celtic have just clinched their sixth in a row. When Rangers did so in 1994 the Hoops couldn’t even get above Aberdeen and Motherwell. They were fourth and didn’t qualify for Europe.
At that point Fergus McCann had just come in and realised radical thinking and a new approach was necessary.
Rangers, as Celtic are now, were banking and spending Champions League money and their rivals couldn’t compete.
McCann’s first major move was to install Tommy Burns and his remit, although irritating to some fans, was simple.
He wasn’t concerned at what Rangers were paying. He’d build his club his way. It would take time but it would come.
The progress on the park was slow but the building blocks were being put in place. By the end of the season as Rangers won seven in a row, Celtic finished fourth again, this time behind Motherwell and Hibs.
But crucially Burns got a trophy when his team beat Airdrie to win the Scottish Cup. It ended a six-year drought without a major honour. Rangers will be six years without a major honour if they don’t win a trophy next season.
By 1995-96, as Rangers chased their eighth title, Celtic were taking shape and Burns had found his way. Their rivals were signing Gazza. Celtic didn’t have that money.
Jorge Cadete was nabbed on a free and Andreas Thom signed but Burns began to cherry-pick some of the best of talent from around Scotland.
He worked out that ensuring you would be best of the rest would give yourself a shot at closing the gap at the top.
Rangers knocked Celtic out of the League Cup and Scottish Cup. Celtic also didn’t beat them in four attempts in the league.
But because Burns had found the way to make his team better than the rest, the improvement was glaring and they mounted a title challenge.
Celtic won 24 out of their 32 matches against the rest of the teams. They only lost one game all season – to Rangers.
The Ibrox men got their eight in a row but Celtic had closed the gap by some way and finished just four points behind. Four became five the following year but the same rules applied.
Walter Smith led his team to the Holy Grail courtesy of an amazing record against Celtic. Four wins from four games. Again Celtic had a better record against the rest than Rangers.
Turning around the form in the head-to-head matches had suddenly become all that stood between the Parkhead side and eventually turning the tide.
Sadly for Burns he didn’t get the chance to see it through. Wim Jansen took over and stopped 10 in a row.
The Dutchman was able to add class acts such as Paul Lambert, Marc Rieper and Craig Burley and, of course, was able to count on Henrik Larsson.
But the foundations provided by Burns were there. By ignoring Rangers and ensuring they were best of the rest, Celtic were then able to get close enough to bridge the gap.
More recently Derek McInnes has gone about things in a similar way to Burns. A brilliant job and one Rangers should have noted.
Instead they went for Caixinha. He knows players from before and it’s understandable that he might want them.
But 35-year-old defenders from Portugal? Unknown Ghanaian centre-backs?
Forget Aberdeen players here and consider this. If Caixinha chose to follow the path of Burns or McInnes, he could look around this term’s Premiership.
Taking these steps made Celtic best of the rest and, with key additions further down the line, gave them a shot at downing Rangers.