The undeniable truth that Rangers are further behind Celtic now than in 2023

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There seems to be a strange narrative building this week after Celtic beat Rangers in the League Cup final. And it’s not the penalty debate.

Ever since Celtic won the League Cup there are murmurings that the gap between Celtic and Rangers is not as big as people first thought.

Jeff Stelling and Ally McCoist said that Rangers’ performance against Celtic ‘encouraged’ the Ibrox support to believe that the gap had somehow ‘closed’.

It wasn’t too long ago that Philippe Clement thought the gap between Celtic and Rangers at the top of the league could be closed and the he could still mount a title challenge.

There is also a narrative building amongst some quarters in the Scottish media and punditry land that suggests Sunday’s Hampden performance means that Celtic are not as far ahead of Rangers as they first thought.

So that led us at 67 Hail Hail to take a look at where both clubs stood at this time last year compared to where they are now.

Rangers closing the gap to Celtic narrative shot down with three undeniable facts

Celtic’s latest financial results show that the Parkhead club are streets ahead of where Rangers are right now.

With revenues of over £124m, Celtic continue to break financial records as the Scottish champions record record profits.

On the other hand, over at Ibrox, Rangers recorded a loss over the same period with debts of over £17m to their name.

Celtic’s domestic form over Rangers is stronger now than in 2023

Secondly, the League Cup now sits in Celtic’s trophy cabinet instead of inside Ibrox as Brendan Rodgers claimed the first piece of silverware of the season.

Last, but not least, Rangers were still in the title race at this point last season. The Ibrox club were five points behind with two games in hand.

Celtic fans will remember that Philippe Clement won those two matches to go top before the New Year Glasgow Derby.

Celtic, of course, won that and saw out the remaining fixtures to become league champions again.

As it stands right now, Rangers languish in third place in the Scottish Premiership table 11 points behind Celtic.

Not only that, with three fewer games played, Celtic have already scored one more goal, conceded 10 less and are unbeaten with one point more.

Rangers, with one more game played at this stage than last season have scored six fewer goals and conceded one more and have won one less game as well and five points worse off.

The gap is closing? It’s quite the opposite. It’s getting bigger and bigger with each passing week.