STEELY STEVIE HAS RANGERS ROCK-SOLID
RANGERS ECLIPSE OLD FIRM RIVALS TO GO 19 POINTS CLEAR ON A POIGNANT DAY
THIS rivalry is unremitting. Relentless. It never misses a beat. A small group of Rangers supporters gathered under a brilliant blue sky at the Ibrox Disaster memorial on Saturday morning, reflecting on the day, 50 years earlier, when 66 people — 32 of them teenagers — lost their lives.
A larger group congregated 50 yards down the road, heckling the Celtic players when their team bus pulled up.
There will be a day, beyond the strictures of these times, when a fuller act of remembrance is held for those who never came home from the Old Firm derby of January 1971, including the boy whose family had laid a number of floral tributes.
Nigel Pickup was an eightyearold from a town east of Liverpool, attending his first Rangers game that day — the disaster’s youngest victim.
For now, there is a football battle on a par with the most intense this city has known. Every sentient being north of the Scottish border knows why Celtic are so obsessed with reeling in Rangers.
Fail to do so and the old enemy will have deprived them of a 10th consecutive title: the so- called 10 In A Row. They have their work cut out now.
You wondered how it would all play out for Steven Gerrard when he headed north to manage Rangers three years ago. There were 9,000 in Ibrox simply to watch him being presented as manager.
The experience has changed him, for sure. His press conference late on Saturday revealed a tougher, more unflinching individual than the one who so often sat before us, with that famously furrowed brow, at Liverpool down the years.
Such characteristics run through his team. Gerrard has driven a plate of Govan steel through Rangers.
For all of the first half and some of the second on Saturday, Celtic hit them like an express train, performing as if their lives, as well as their manager Neil Lennon’s job, depended on it. Three years ago — perhaps just one year ago — Rangers would have folded.
But their resilience was testament to the kind of team Gerrard has built and the type of player he has bought, with a substantially smaller wage bill than Celtic’s. Connor Goldson, from the fringes at Brighton, and Leon Balogun, picked up from Wigan, were the bedrock of the defence which kept Celtic out. Aided in no small measure by the monumental Allan McGregor in goal, the first signing Gerrard sanctioned here. The Rangers defence have conceded five goals in 22 League games this season.
Gerrard’s introduction of Ianis Hagi at half- time provided a vitality and energy missing in Rangers’ difficult first half, though in the aftermath of victory, Balogun also provided a sense of what the manager had brought to the dressing-room conversation at half-time. ‘ Every time he has kicked our asses we have responded,’ the central defender said. ‘ But he touches the right spots, too. He has been there. He knows it won’t help just to tear us down. He knows which buttons to press to reset us.’
Gerrard’s post-match discussion of Ryan Kent — the 24-yearold Liverpudlian whose levels have dropped after an electrifying start — seemed to bear out Balogun’s point. ‘ He had been influential, hadn’t he?’, it was put to Gerrard.
‘I spent big money (£7.5million) on him because I’ve got a lot of trust in him,’ he replied. ‘I think he’s a fantastic talent. I still think he can improve in certain areas. ‘Putting him back in the team today was a big show of trust and respect from me to Ryan. I don’t think he was at his fluent best today over the 90 minutes but he definitely let Celtic know that we carry a threat. He started the season in red-hot form. He’s probably come away from that slightly. It wouldn’t surprise me if in the coming weeks he gets back up to his best.’
Gerrard was helped by a moment of Celtic defensive madness, when Nir Bitton brought down Alfredo Morelos, after the Colombian span around him to break free, and was dismissed.
Celtic lost momentum and the goal came minutes later. A corner by James Tavernier was deflected in off Celtic captain Callum McGregor’s shoulder. Lennon was visibly devastated.
‘We’ve got a lot to do now,’ he said, before heading to Dubai with the squad. His job is probably safe. With the league all but gone, the board will more probably make a change in the summer.
Rangers, who have beaten Celtic in three consecutive games for the first time in a decade, are 19 points clear and Gerrard admitted that shutting out the numerical superiority would be challenging.
‘I would be lying if I said I was not aware of it,’ he said. ‘We are aware of the numbers.’
Outside, fireworks illuminated the Govan sky. It feels like there’s a title coming.