Aberdeen tipped to break Rangers and Celtic stranglehold on Scottish league title
Daily Record columnist Tam Cowan believes Aberdeen are the most likely team to break the Rangers and Celtic “duopoly” at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
The Old Firm have won every single league title since the 1984/85 season when the Dons won their second title in as many years.
However, Cowan believes Aberdeen are the club who are best placed to mount a challenge to Celtic and Rangers’ rein at the top.
“At the start of every season, you’re thinking here we go, Rangers or Celtic. It’s primarily Aberdeen that you’re looking for to upset the apple cart, and then you jump down to Hearts and Hibs,” said Cowan (PLZ Soccer, 13 December)
“Aberdeen are the club you’re looking at to break the duopoly that’s gone on for 37 years.”
Firstly, it’s important to consider how long Rangers and Celtic have dominated for, and there’s a good chance that domination will continue for a couple more decades. So, let’s say the Old Firm remain the dominant force in Scotland until 2040, who’s to say another team would be best placed to topple the Glasgow giants?
It’s impossible to predict which clubs are going to be best-placed long-term. It feels as if Cowan is basing this opinion purely on the fact that Aberdeen are third in the table at the moment. During Rangers’ exile, the Dons did finish second, but they never truly managed to mount a serious challenge for the title.
Furthermore, since 2018, the Dons have failed to finish third, with Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Hibernian and Hearts all beating pipping them.
Teams go through phases of success and failure, and for the past couple of seasons it’s been tough for the Dons, so unless something dramatically changes, it’s impossible to see them being the main threat to the Old Firm duopoly.
In other Rangers news, a BBC pundit has savaged a senior player at Ibrox after what he saw him do last week.