Title race on! SPFL
Aberdeen beating Celtic on Wednesday night was not only a great
game to watch but so important for the struggling Scottish league. Scottish
football has often been described over the years as a two horse race and with
one of the horses being metaphorically shot, you can’t blame fans for losing
interest in a league that’s become like the French and Italian of recent years.
(One team running away with it opening up 15 point gaps before Christmas).
A Celtic win would have put them 9 points clear of second
place Aberdeen and surely the nail in the confine as far as their title ambitions
are concerned. Having no allegiance to either side I have to confess to jumping
off my seat when Johnny Hayes wonder strike in the first half hit the back of
the net. Aberdeen eventually winning 2-1 after Celtics in form forward
Griffiths scored a consolation, I’m asking can someone other than Celtic really
win the league.
When I think about the relatively massive financial muscle Celtic
have compared to the other teams in Scotland, I can’t help but think their
underachieving. With hopes of a treble out the window with league cup defeat to
Ross County on Sunday, the Hoops boss has been receiving speculations from fans
and within the media over his future. But I feel there’s a greater underlying
problem at Celtic that roots deeper than the clubs management and players. That’s
a lack of competition, when Celtic lost their Champions league qualifier this
season to the Swedish side Malmo FF, their boss Allan Kuhn commented that
Celtic tyre in the last 10 minutes of games and lack fitness to be competitive
in Europe. This argument further supported by the late goals lost against Malmo
and the last minuit goal they lost at Rugby Park when Kuhn attended in preparation
for the two legged tie. The fact is that many games in the league Celtic don’t need
to get out of second gear (they beat Hamilton 8-1 at Park Head in January). So
when it comes time to play a better opposition or they are up against it in
tightly contested games, the mental and physical toughness is just not there.
Playing in front of a half empty stadium for really the first time in Celtics
recent history due to the fact Rangers and real competition is absent can’t
help either.
With that said it looks as if their arch enemy Rangers will
return to the top flight after a 4 year absence which should in theory benefit
the league as a whole. In the meantime Aberdeen can’t really win the league…….can
they?
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