Hamilton Accies manager Brian Rice has claimed that Celtic and Rangers are as far apart from the rest of the Premiership as they have been for 40 years.
There was only one thing that was going to make Hoops fans feel a bit better yesterday and it was an Accies win at Ibrox. However, they were mauled 5-0 as Celtic officially surrendered top spot. The gap between Rangers and Celtic is now two points.
Rangers themselves have now won all seven of their games against teams outside of Celtic in the league. The Hoops, meanwhile, had won their first six games of the season. That was before slip-ups to Hibernian and Livingston respectively.
However, despite the two successes for our opponents over the last two weeks, Rice told the Scottish Sun that there remains a colossal chasm between the top two and the rest.
“For me, Celtic and Rangers are on a different planet to anyone else in this division. The gap for me, between Celtic, Rangers and the rest, is as big as I’ve ever seen in my 40 odd years in Scottish football.
“I know Celtic lost at Livingston but under normal circumstances the gap is enormous. All you can do it your best and try not to make it easy for them.
“They tried their best. We know where we are. We’ve come here and known is was going to be very difficult (at Ibrox). It’s hurting. We want to do better and we’ll try to do better.”
Rice is spot on – but Celtic’s main rival is complacency
There was a feeling yesterday that too many of our starting XI thought we were just playing little Livingston. Christopher Jullien didn’t look up for the fight with Lyndon Dykes, whilst James Forrest, Odsonne Edouard, and Callum McGregor were all anonymous.
Rice is right, and that’s the way it should be. The budget Celtic have compared to everyone else in the league is cataclysmic. Over the course of a 38-game season, there will inevitably be a huge gulf between us and the rest.
Rangers have clearly recruited well under Steven Gerrard. They’re joining us in that elite level of the Premiership. Both sides generally blow the opposition away these days, but that doesn’t mean there’s no danger.
Livingston showed us exactly what can happen when we take our foot off the gas. Regardless of whether we shot ourselves in the foot with Ryan Christie’s red card, the match was still there to be won.
Hibs, meanwhile, were another to make life difficult for Celtic and ultimately see through a point. Just because we have substantially better players than the rest, it doesn’t mean they don’t have quality. Every side in this division can hurt us if we give them the opportunities, and that’s exactly what we’ve done over the last two weeks.
Hopefully, yesterday was the last time we give another side joy against us for some time.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
