It will get bit tastier if Jack can dine out on a rare Ibrox win
An early assessment suggests that Scotland’s top-flight isn’t operating with an a la carte menu this season.
Nope, from the Old Firm down, it looks like a bangers and mash of a campaign, despite being sold as something more silver service.
And we can expect more of the standard fare when the top two go head to head this afternoon at Ibrox.
We’re not alone in dressing things up with deflection, distraction and blind tribal loyalty which appears to make up for the lack of technical ability and substance.
That’s a football critic’s analysis because when it comes to pulling the wool over punters’ eyes, our game isn’t a patch on the London restaurant which has people paying £630 for a steak and £9 for a Coke.
Nusret Gokce’s no-expense-spared eatery is the result of a video of him seasoning steak by theatrically dropping salt from a height going viral. So it’s small change to pay through the nose to watch guys who’s first touch is a tackle.
Rangers are already looking like a squad in regression having climbed their Premiership mountain last season and Celtic are suffering some sort of identity crisis, with a manager in Ange Postecoglou who’s trying so hard to pretend to be something that Celts are in danger of forgetting who they are.
Argue all you like about the levels shown by the big two so far in this campaign but this jury is already out and as my pappy used to say ‘Two bad sides’.
Which brings us back to Hibs and their have-a-go-heroes who’ll attempt to hit the summit with a win in Govan. Given the
Hypocrisy of the local councils is highlighted by mental health campaigns they drive
aforementioned mediocrity of Steven Gerrard side’s start, it’s a game for the taking if a large slice of self-belief is on board when the team bus departs from Leith.
There’s a not so rich vein of averageness about Rangers right down their spine and for Hibs boss Jack Ross it’s a chance to get an Ibrox monkey off his back.
His predecessors fared well at Ibrox. Alan Stubbs won twice and Neil Lennon’s stats were two wins and a draw. Yet Ross has yet to lead his team to a success there.
And all the talk this week has been about making a statement of intent. That good old glass ceiling of splitting the Old Firm was last shattered by Aberdeen in 2017-18, albeit they finished nine points behind Celtic.
The mere mention to any manager or player about the prospects of actually sustaining a credible challenge at the top has become taboo.
Nobody’s prepared to stick their neck out and throw a bit of Radoslaw Cierzniak caution to the wind. The former Dundee United keeper should take a bow for once saying: “Everything is still possible for us and I believe we can win all three, the league, Scottish Cup and League Cup. Why not? People might laugh at me saying that but I don’t care. We will see what happens.
“Maybe in May we will have won the league and the cups and I will be laughing too. We have a very strong team and can win the league. Everyone here believes we can do it.”
Rado is right, it’s the Old Firm these clubs are trying to split, not the atom.
Hibs must believe it can be done if they’re to be celebrating some silver service this season with some salt and sauce.