Winning the title or throwing it away?

[Super_Ally 0]

What makes football, or any professional sport, so utterly compelling is the knowledge that for every great victory, wherever there is a triumphant winner but also a disconsolate loser. Whenever Rangers win a title, we are always told that it is the worst league winning side in history. Has a Rangers side ever been worthy of the success their efforts have brought?

 

Throughout today's emphatic victory there was always the lingering suggestion, from commentators, from pundits and experts, that Rangers were gifted the title due to Celtic's lack of bottle in the title run in and their improbable, unpredicatable defeat in the highlands.

 

With the draw at Ibrox, where McGregor saved a penalty (awarded for a Celtic dive) that ultimately contributed so vitally to our victory, Celtic merely had to turn up in their four remaining fixtures to collect that 12 points that would seal the title.

 

Unfortunately, Inverness Caley had not read the script and duly dumped the Champions elect (elected by themselves) from the driving seat. As Calscot pointed out in another thread the three points Celtic dropped in their run in is entirely consistent with their record throughout the season in terms of average points gained. It could almost be expected that they would come unstuck in at least one fixture.

 

On paper, Celtic not trampelling all in their wake in their remaining few fixtures would be unthinkable. And as a fan who prepares himself for the worst in such a scenario, I had not expected such an event for fear of my hopes being cruelly squashed.

 

However, it is disrespectful to dismiss the other ten league opponents in such a manner and as Madjid Bougherra said in his celebratory interviews, perhaps our cross city opponents had become cocky. Their arrogance was their undoing. Rangers management team are always at pains to pay the utmost respect to all our opponents and that is no more evident than in the way we approached the opening 7 minutes of our title clinching victory today. We went at our opponents from the off and delivered the victory that counted most.

 

Whilst Rangers dropped just two points (only in an Old Firm draw) in our final ten fixtures since our last defeat to Dundee United, the Old Firm cannot routinely expect to go on such a run of results. A winning run is built upon hard work, confidence and even good fortune.

 

Time and again Celtic have shown disrespect to the rest of the league; in expecting to turn up and be awarded the points without having to contest them (such as at Caley) and also through questioning the integrity of our opponents when we have achieved hard fought victories. Lennon and Celtic questioned the likes of Hearts and Dundee United when we dispatched them with ruthless efficiency, yet had no such concerns about achieving similar results themselves against the same opposition.

 

The other question that must be answered is how late in a season must you drop points for it to be argued that you handed the title to your opponents? Celtic argue they threw away the title, we did not win it, because they lost their 4th last fixture at Caley. Can it be argued, hypothetically, that had they won the title we could point to that loss against Dundee United at Ibrox (a fixture we could reasonably expect to win and which we dominated for large spells) and say we lost it, they did not win it?

 

Clearly it is a ludicrous concept. A league title is awarded to the team that garners the most points over the competitive 38 game season. Whether points are lost early in the season, with four games to go, or indeed with minutes of the season remaining is immaterial. The team which sits top of the pile after the final minute of the final fixture are deserving champions. For the third time in a row, for the 54th time in total, that team is Rangers.

 

Here's to four in a row! :spl:

[Zappa 0]

Very well put S_A!

[pete 2,511]

A few things. Rewrite the calscot bit and get this on the main site. Sorry Cal.

I have to be totally honest here but in an interview Lennon actually did say having a run of draws in December together with losing at Inverness cost them the league.

[Zappa 0]

A few things. Rewrite the calscot bit and get this on the main site. Sorry Cal.

I have to be totally honest here but in an interview Lennon actually did say having a run of draws in December together with losing at Inverness cost them the league.

 

Lennon must have forgotten about our 1-3 win at faulty towers on October 24th.

Edited May 17, 2011 by Zappa

[Super_Ally 0]

A few things. Rewrite the calscot bit and get this on the main site. Sorry Cal.

I have to be totally honest here but in an interview Lennon actually did say having a run of draws in December together with losing at Inverness cost them the league.

 

Unusually honest and gracious of him. I did miss that.