Chris Sutton hits out at ‘world beaters’ Rangers amid Celtic slump in ‘frankly ridiculous’ verdict
Chris Sutton reacted to Celtic’s slump in form after securing the title by pointing the finger sarcastically at “world beaters” Rangers.
Ange Postecoglou’s squad rotation contributed to a 3-0 Old Firm derby loss at Ibrox on 13 May, a result which was followed up by a draw with St Mirren and a shock 4-2 reverse at Hibs.
Both sides of Glasgow won on the final day (27 May) to see the gap finish at seven points, but Sutton has rejected the suggestion that the Light Blues have closed on the Hoops amid the “dead rubbers”.
In his Daily Record column he said: “Seriously. These games are absolutely meaningless – there has been nothing on the line. Celtic haven’t won them, but, honestly, it’s a total waste of time trying to analyse them. Does Postecoglou need to win the Playing For Pride Trophy as well?
“The way some folk are going on, Rangers are flying and Celtic are struggling. Some are trying to frame it like it will have some sort of bearing on next season. That’s frankly ridiculous. Have they casually forgotten the last nine months? The objective at the start of the season was to win the league. Celtic managed it with room to spare.
“They have delivered in every single big game domestically and now they’ve lost a bit of edge people are making assumptions about August. It’s nonsense. Rangers might take a bit of confidence from their last few results, but this is a team that couldn’t do it when it really mattered.
“It the three crunch derby games, they came second best each time and folded under the pressure. Now the heat is off, they are world beaters again. As for Celtic, they smashed through the finishing line, are they expected to keep sprinting?”
Over-protesting
Yes of course the real challenge is to win when the pressure is on, and nobody can deny that Celtic have been the strongest in Scotland with two out of three trophies in the bag ahead of the Scottish Cup final.
But if the last few weeks have been meaningless why is Sutton, and Postecoglou for that matter, getting so wound up about things?
If the roles were reversed Sutton would be the first one trying to turn the heat up on Michael Beale, and while it very much falls in the category of winning the battle but losing the war the win in the last Old Firm does have a bearing on next season.
Similarly, encouraging performances from the likes of Todd Cantwell, John Souttar, Ridvan Yilmaz, and Robby McCrorie could end up paying dividends down the line.
Nobody is suggesting that getting good results when the pressure is off excuses failing to do when when the chips were down, but if the end of the season meant absolutely nothing then nobody would be paying any attention.
Celtic got back to winning ways against Aberdeen and lifted the SPFL trophy, which seems more important than point-scoring against Rangers, so why this even matters so much to Sutton is a question.
If even the suggestion of the gap being closed is such an issue at Parkhead then Beale needs to ensure that he gets his transfer business right and puts the pressure on properly when the season starts again.
In other Rangers news, one Light Blues ace stunned with “perfection” in his showing at St Mirren on the final day despite links to an exit.