Davie Provan addresses Celtic title advantage; says Hoops are better than rivals

By David Walton

March 27, 2022

Davie Provan has stated that he believes Celtic have a better team than Rangers on paper as he outlined why the Hoops have an advantage regardless of the result next week.

Celtic and Rangers are due to go at each other next Sunday when we travel to Ibrox in a crunch league fixture. Victory there would see the Hoops go 6 points clear with only 6 league games remaining.

However, even if Celtic lose the game, we’ll still be top of the Premiership. Indeed, we currently sit top with a goal difference of 14 more than Rangers. In addition to that, the final derby of the season will be at Celtic Park – the venue Rangers famously crumbled at back in February.

Provan has been previewing the game next Sunday, but stopped short of saying he predicts Celtic to win at Ibrox. Speaking to the Sunday Post [print edition, 27/03, Post-Match supplement, page 7], Provan said: “I do believe that Celtic are the better team right now. On paper they have a stronger squad, and they have shown that many times this season with their level of consistency.

“What the Celtic players will know is that if they leave Ibrox with the three points, then the title is as good as in the bag. That’s a helluva carrot to dangle in front of them. All in all, it has all the makings of a smashing game, and this title race may well go all the way. I wouldn’t be surprised if it does.

“Celtic will still hold the advantage because they have the final derby to come at their place. That’s massive for them.”

Celtic still hold title advantage regardless of Ibrox result, but a defeat remains unthinkable

We certainly disagree with Provan on plenty of occasions here on 67HailHail, but you can’t with this particular issue. What he’s stating there is just pure fact.

We have effectively put ourselves in such a good position that even defeat at Ibrox wouldn’t give them the advantage. At least not on paper. Celtic would still have another big derby match at Celtic Park in which to try and put things right.

But even so, that doesn’t mean that defeat next week is even fathomable amongst the Celtic support. It shouldn’t be entering the player’s minds and it’ll be the furthest thing from the manager’s. As soon as we start thinking like that, that’s exactly when we’ll lose that title advantage.

Celtic will want to starve Rangers of as much hope as they can. Winning this game next week could effectively kill their title-charge off. It really would take something ridiculously outrageous for Celtic to throw it from a position like that.

At the same time, a defeat does hand some momentum to our rivals. They would get to bask in the positive media spotlight and momentum that a derby win brings. It would also give them a major bounce before the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden on April 17th.

This next block of games is crucial. We need to be in the mindset of winning them all and ensuring we don’t just map out the easiest way to get there. A mentality of win or bust at Ibrox is a must, and not least because it’s exactly what the Rangers players themselves will be thinking.

In other news, Reo Hatate tells Japanese media all about his “difficult” Celtic struggles