Celtic fans will welcome a challenge from any club in Scotland. If Rangers can’t offer it then others are welcome to.
A few weeks ago, Tony Bloom said he wanted to challenge Celtic for the title and he expects Hearts to have one in the bag within the next 10 years.
Those comments were welcomed by much of the Celtic support as fresh investment in Scotland is good for the game as a whole.
With Rangers seriously struggling this season and Celtic not firing on all cylinders, Dave Cormack was asked if this now is the perfect ‘opportunity’ for his Aberdeen side to challenge Celtic.
Aberdeen’s Dave Cormack says competition for Celtic is ‘healthy’
Aberdeen beat Celtic in last season’s Scottish Cup final to record their first piece of silverware in 35 years.
And now that it appears Rangers are going to struggle, Jim White asked the Aberdeen chairman if now is the perfect time to challenge Celtic’s domination of Scottish football.
McCormack said on talkSPORT, “If you take all the top leagues around Europe now, I’ve seen the usual teams win the league, right across Europe.
“Whether that be Spain or England, etc. I do think it’s really healthy that the investment’s come in. A significant investment has come in across Scotland, in particular Hearts, Hibs and Dundee United.
“And I think overall, that, in itself, is healthy.
“Listen, Dundee United were very unlucky not to go through and Hibernian have played really well in Europe so far this season.
“We play FCSB, as they’re called now, and I think they’re ranked number 70 or 75 you know, in Europe. And so similarly, the teams that Dundee United and Hibs have played a strong, strong team, and they’ve competed really well.
“So I think that goes well for Scottish clubs generally, and I think it bodes well for the challenge in the league, and, of course, us winning the Scottish Cup, Aberdeen are Scottish Cup holders for the first time in 35 years.”
The last time Aberdeen challenged Celtic for the league title
Aberdeen have offered up a challenge to Celtic for the league title in the not too distant past.
When Rangers went out of business, Aberdeen were the next club to step up to offer a title challenge when Ronny Deila was the Celtic manager.
And when they did, they were still nowhere near them apart from one year out of four. Here is how close the Dons got to Celtic back then:
- Season 2014/15: 18 point gap
- Season 2015/16: 15 points gap
- Season 2016/17: 30 points gap
- Season 2017/18: 9 point gap
Can Aberdeen challenge Celtic in the near future? It’s possible, but unlikely.
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