There have been plenty of silly metrics surfacing this season to justify a year of abject Rangers failure in the wake of Celtic success. Still, Kenny Miller and his imaginary league table take the biscuit.
According to the former striker, Rangers can take comfort in the fact that they top the Scottish Premiership from when Michael Beale was appointed manager. That’s despite being eight points behind in reality, losing the league with weeks to go and being on the receiving end of two Hampden defeats in the cup competitions.
He told BBC Sportscene: “There were two defeats pre-split against Aberdeen in the league fixture and to Celtic in the semi-final. Well, they have bounced back by avenging that defeat to Aberdeen and with a fantastic win over Celtic last week. A real, positive, convincing win over their rivals.
“It has given them a chance to finish with five wins in a row. It has gave them a chance – with Michael’s time in charge – to actually finish with more points than Ange and Celtic have.
“I know it’s slight consolation but what it has shown is that over a decent sample size – 20 odd games – that Michael Beale’s side have went toe-to-toe with Celtic with the points they have gained.”
That’ll be the “Toe To Toe Trophy” in the Ibrox cabinet alongside all the others that have popped up with this season. It’ll sit nicely with the “Doesn’t Matter Trophy” pointed out by Celtic hero Chris Sutton recently.
Yes, Celtic have dropped points in recent weeks but by Ange Postecoglou’s own admission, some of his players have taken their foot off the gas since wrapping up the title. That’s a natural by-product of winning the league with games to spare.
There are some serious coping mechanisms doing the rounds, but you’d expect better from the league’s primary highlights show. The fact is that Celtic have already completed a back-to-back double and are on the verge of a famous treble.
Beale has had ample opportunity to stop that achievement and fell well short. How their pundits or fans can take any silver lining at all from what’s occurred this season is beyond me.
In other news, How to watch Hibernian vs Celtic on Wednesday night as Sky Sports opt out.
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