Why Celtic should relish the challenge from Ibrox and elsewhere

The Rangers supporters have been walking on air since news of their club’s takeover confirmation on Friday, and in the midst of their joy they have been making some very bold claims.

Phone-ins and social media have been awash with those of an Ibrox persuasion shouting from the rooftops about when not if, their club overtakes Celtic as the dominant force in Scottish football. They are always at their best when there’s no football to be played and this summer is going to be no different in that regard.

They are that supremely confident that they will be successful next season, some have even suggested a possible treble heading to Ibrox.

What makes them this confident? If it were me I’d take a step back and comb through the situation, but of course they are blinded to any inconvenient facts and are so deprived of success they continually get caught up in all the false hype. Unless of course the new owners are in full possession of a magic wand, and if that’s the case I fully apologise.

Essentially Celtic are what theRangers aspire to be, we are their benchmark. But we didn’t build up our success on and off the pitch overnight and we achieved it through years of dedication and hard work on and off the park. The Ibrox club likewise will have to be patient if they want to replicate the success of Celtic and it won’t happen instantly.

The problem for the Ibrox club though is that they’re already playing catch up with Celtic who will undoubtedly strengthen this coming summer. Yes theRangers will over time improve but so will Celtic who are already miles in front.

The season just ended didn’t have any sort of title race to speak of. Folk tried their best to hype up Aberdeen as a possible rival after their brilliant start under Jimmy Thelin, but that didn’t last. Meanwhile Philippe Clement turned from possible contender to comedian as his side’s campaign flopped badly after making a fight of it the previous year.

That title race made Celtic better but after our European campaign ended in heartache in Munich, Celtic never had to get into top gear again and ultimately that cost us a treble.  A strong Aberdeen and a strong Hibs, maybe a stronger Hearts under Derek McInnes, even a stronger theRangers is something for Celtic supporters to relish and certainly not fear. We should ‘relish the challenge’