Anthony Ralston’s post-Glasgow Derby comments will delight the Celtic fans

By Patrick Sinat

May 15, 2023

I think it’s fair to say that the Glasgow Derby defeat to Rangers is all but forgotten about. Well, almost. Although losing to our rivals will always hurt, in the grand scheme of things, all that happened on Saturday was a slight closing of the gap at the top of the table.

But the Celtic fans have always known this. In fact, the only thing that may slightly worry us is the possibility of players relaxing knowing that the league is over. That certainly has been a suggestion in some quarters over the weekend.

And Anthony Ralston was keen to address that. And he did so with a brilliant reminder that we are on the brink of a history-making treble.

Ralston said [The Herald], “We can’t forget that.

“We can’t forget that we are champions for a reason. We have been outstanding this season and we are all really happy about the season that we have had as a collective as a squad.

“We have the Scottish Cup Final to look ahead to and there are a lot of positives still to take. But that doesn’t mean anything is accepted.

“Nothing is accepted but the high standards that we have created, that we have set and we will be looking to maintain that moving forward.” 

I love this response from Ralston. ‘We are champions for a reason’. And that reason is that throughout the course of the last 35 games when it mattered, we stood up to the pressure and delivered on the park.

Not when the pressure was off. But when it was full-blown, in-your-face, real must-win games.

What was also brilliant to hear was the Celtic full-back absolutely refusing to accept that the players have switched off.

The standards that we are used to will always be maintained at the club. The players just had an off day. It happens. They are only human.

Next up is St Mirren at Celtic Park this Saturday. The first game in front of 60,000 fans since winning the title in a game that Ange Postecoglou, and the Celtic team, will be desperate to put on a show.