A DERBY LIKE NO O OTHER
Empty stands, the sound of silence and preparations wrecked by Covid means that when Celtic and Rangers face off on Saturday it will really be..
THERE may be only five days to go but for Steven Gerrard and Neil Lennon this week is likely to drag out for an eternity.
As Covid- 19 creeps and wheezes its way around every street and neighbourhood in the country, it does feel now like only a matter of time before this invisible virus slips through the security gates and spreads its vile toxins all over one of their training centres.
Lennon, of course, is already counting the cost of allowing his players to leave their bio-secure bubble to go on international duty.
Odsonne Edouard will remain self isolating in Paris until Friday after testing positive with the French Under-21s, Ryan Christie is under house arrest for a fortnight after spending too much time with Stuart Armstrong and now Nir Bitton has been added to the list of casualties after playing for Israel against Scotland at Hampden on Thursday night.
Never mind agonising over his tactics and strategy for the first Old Firm derby of this monumental season, Lennon will be spending the next couple of days rattling around his empty Lennoxtown HQ with a pair of marigolds and a giant bucket of detergent, scrubbing the place spotless before his star men return to base.
Gerrard too can only hope that his good luck does not run out as the clock ticks down to Saturday lunchtime.
So far his dressing room has not been touched by the chaos caused by this rampaging contagion but the Rangers manager can only wash his hands and keep his fingers crossed that it does not follow one of his own internationalists back into camp.
Right now – should all things remain equal – Gerrard must be fancying his chances of repeating the victory he recorded the last time he made the trip across the Clyde back in December 2019, before the world was turned on its head.
And not just because his opposite number is already preparing to take a head count just to establish how many of Celtic’s men will be available for selection.
No, the truth of the matter is the champions have been coughing and spluttering since the start of this campaign regardless of the ongoing health crisis outside.
It does feel as if Lennon and his players are still searching for anything close to resembling their best form despite a solid run of results which have carried them into a strong position at the sharp end of the table.
Another win on Saturday will see them leapfrog Gerrard’s team into top spot, having played one game less, which granted, is hardly indicative of an early-season slump.
But, even so, there’s no denying Celtic don’t look comfortable in this new sterile, highly sanitised environment.
It has been argued already that Rangers are thriving without the added pressure of having their own fans breathing high anxiety down their necks whilst attempting to stop Celtic in their 10-in-a-row tracks.
It’s highly speculative, of course, but there could very well be something in this theory all the same as Gerrard and his backroom staff are clinicians behind the scenes at Auchenhowie where no stone is left unturned.
They have created a team which excels on the training ground and right now Rangers are able to play as they practice, without the distraction of having to placate a support which, in more normal times, would be having collective kittens by now at the thought of what is still to come. All of that does make some sense.
But it could also be the case that, as much as Rangers might be enjoying the relative peace and quiet, Celtic’s manager and his players are not quite themselves without the cut and thrust of the full, frenzied matchday experience.
Let’s not forget, this is a team which has been welded together over the years in the white-hot furnace of the battle so it stands to reason then that these players might be struggling to adjust to the new normal, where Lennon’s voice is the only one they hear echoing around the huge slopes of their own empty stadium.
It was Lennon, after all, who famously spoke about bringing the thunder back to this ground when he took on the job the first time round.
Without the electric charge from Celtic’s support, there’s a serenity around Glasgow’s east end which does not sit well with the man in charge.
It feels more like the calm before a storm which may never actually come.
So, yes, Gerrard will take his team there this weekend with plenty of reason to believe he
can notchh up a secondd straight ih win behind enemy lines.
His own team, it must be said, has impressed since the new season began.
His right-back is the leading scorer in the top flight while the centre of his defence looks more robust and secure than it has done at any time since his arrival as manager.
With Ryan Kent taking his game to a new level, Gerrard’s attack is inventive, creative and highly dangerous.
And, in Steve Davis, Gerrard also has the most cultured, intelligent central midfield operator in the country.
If these key players are on top of their game, there is every reason to suspect RRangers will ill be adequately equipped to cause Celtic some significant problems just as they did on their last trip to the home of the champions, when the backdrop was a great deal more intimidating and febrile.
As the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Then again, with five days still to go and the pandemic raging out of control all around, this fixture is also about to become a hostage to fate.
The more the stay the same? Even throughout the madhouse history of the Old Firm, things can never have seemed quite so uncontrollable as they do now.
Right now, all things being equal, Gerrard must fancy his team’s chances of a win