We’ll have title race if teams get ducks in a row
SCOTTISH football tends to fail the duck test.
You know the one – if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, then it’s probably a duck.
But in our madcap world it’s the concept of a title race we haven’t been able to get our heads around.
Even since Rangers took their wee enforced detour around the nation the idea of more than one side winning the league has been ignored.
It’s flat out denied like the folk going on about the bendy water.
Brendan Rodgers’s first season was a canter but in the previous two and last season it took the Hoops until pretty late on to wrap up the championship.
It might not look it – but that IS a title race.
Celtic managed it with three to spare last term, albeit the fourth was the 5-0 slaughter of Rangers, but it’s not like they managed it any earlier than plenty in so-called big leagues in Europe.
Manchester City had a bow on the EPL title with five to go, it was the same in France with PSG and in Germany with Bayern Munich.
Barcelona did it with four to go in Spain and looked on course for an invincible season until a surprise slip-up in their penultimate match.
So much for Scotland being the only one-horse race around.
Listen, we all know Celtic will take some stopping. There was a sense last term they were on autopilot and if they’re in the mood then eight in a row should be in the bag.
But they might not have it all their own way. We will have a title race. It just depends on how long it can last.
Rangers will be better this season. They have to be because they simply can’t be any worse.
That Gers managed to get 70 points last season is a mind melt. They had a guy on a unicycle in the dugout at the start of the season and a youth coach caretaker the rest of the time yet they were still within striking range before Celts won at Ibrox with 10 men in April.
Okay, the Hoops always looked to have another gear, but it just shows a couple of Sliding Doors moments can put a different slant on things.
It’s a similar tale at Aberdeen. Derek McInnes’s side were three points better off to finish second again and Dons fans reckoned the campaign was a bit meh.
They lost nine games but if they can make Pittodrie a fortress when the Old Firm show up they can be in the thick of it.
Hibs too. Their form in the second half of last
There’s too many good managers and decent teams for Celtic to stroll it
season would have them on 70-odd points as well.
There are too many good managers and decent teams for Celtic to simply stroll it to the 100-plus mark so if Gers, Aberdeen and Hibs can aim to hit 80 and above we’ll be sitting in April talking about a run-in.
Hearts have tooled up, Steve Clarke has Killie a force again, Tommy Wright continues to pull rabbits out of hats like a seaside magician and the boys at the bottom will be fighting for survival and taking bodies with them.
Scottish football’s taken a kicking but there is genuine excitement on the eve of a new campaign.
Whether we fail the league duck test or not this year’s going to be quackers. OUR TOP WRITERS GIVE THEIR FEARLESS VERDICTS EVERY DAY IN RECORD SPORT