A Longer, Harder "Winter" Beckons For Ra Peepul

SEVERAL of my uncles were: “not unfamiliar with wearing an apron,” to use a good auld Scots euphemism; a couple of others had special collarettes, which were seldom off their necks in the “marching season”. Ma Faither didn't have a sash, or an apron, but, he subscribed to the popular an all-too-common thinking in the East Ayrshire coalfield, perhaps best summed-up as: “We Are The People.”

Rangers winning the Ne'erday fixture, particularly if it was played at Celtic Park, was a good excuse for extra large hauf to wash down the steak pie which was the staple of the Ne'erday Dinner. To them, the traditional and normal order had Timmy bowing to the superiority of Billy.

Broonie gets slightly carried away with one of Sunday's goals

Sadly for Scotland, these days are not yet over and consigned to the dustbin of history – and, after yesterday's William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final demolition of Rangers by Celtic, a general air of gloom has descended over the working-class end of God's County.

That's ten-in-a-row games in which Brendan Rodgers has presided over a Celtic win. The Celtic Family is delighted, and dark mutterings can be heard emitting from behind the firmly shuttered windows of the “ludges.”

Checking-out the “highlights” on Sportscene last night, I fear, this long, hard winter has some way still to go for “Ra Peepul.” Pity the poor fitba-writing churnalists and stenographers, charged with spinning a positive line out of this latest disaster for Rangers.

A fish, we are told, rots from the head, and, until enough of Ra Peepul decide, enough is enough, and turn-on and remove the GASL who is running things at the club, using OPM (that's Other People's Money), we can look forward to continued Celtic dominance of our domestic game.

Or, just maybe, a provincial challenger will emerge, well-enough managed and more-importantly, well-enough funded, that they can defy the inevitable Glasgow media campaign to get their best players sold off to the Old Firm, or the machinations of rapacious agents, selling these same better players off to Championship clubs in England, prepared to pay them over the odds to strut their stuff in England's second tier.

MIND YOU, the GASL has more-urgent concerns to address. Sunday's huge reddy was, we understand, the last straw for a lot of guys who were prepared to give the management team a bit more time.

I hope Graeme Murty has been keeping a daily journal since he arrived at the club. His book about his experiences, if he has kept the right notes, should be a best-seller and will tide him over as he endures what will probably be a lengthy wait for compensation, when, somewhere around the end of the season, he is thanked for his efforts as caretaker manager and shown the door.

 Graeme Murty - his Rangers Diary might be worth reading

Sure, as a young manager, making his way in the game, Graeme has made mistakes, but, to use an auld Scots expression – he could only pish with the cock he was given, and that was inadequate for the job of keeping Rangers ahead of Celtic.

Murty will depart, and a medium-sized forest in Finland will be felled to fuel the ferocious fervour of the dead trees press to identify and interview the next big name who will be invited to sit in the office at the head of the marble staircase an turn things around.

Except, the word is out in football, and only the deluded and the truly-desperate would go near a club which is football's equivalent of an HIV-positive leper.

Football today, being money-obsessed, whoever the next Messiah turns out to be, he will want backing with real, hard cash – where is that to come from, since only the deluded would now give their money to the GASL?

The churnalists and stenographers of the Lap Top Loyal will be expected to put a positive spin on things, but, even that is becoming more and more difficult, old Abe Lincoln's words about how often you can fool Ra Peepul is certainly coming into play after Sunday's latest eye-opener.

I fear it is going to be a long, hard and very-difficult winter for Ra Peepul, and, the prospect of ten-in-a-row is becoming ever more possible.

But, all is not lost. In the long wilderness years between winning the League in 1938 and the return of Stein in 1965, Rangers were as-dominant of Celtic as the reverse is the case today. But, for all that, there were the occasional shafts of sunlight for Celtic: the Scottish Cup win in 1951, the victories in the St Mungo and Coronation Cup competitions, the Double in 1954, “Hampden in the Sun” in 1957.

A rare ray of sunshine during Cetic's wilderness years

This kept hope alive even while Rangers were winning 11 of the first 20 post-war league championships and going far in Europe, while Celtic players didn't need passports. Towards the end of this long spell in the doldrums, at least, Sir Robert Kelly, with the Kelly Kids was building for the future, although it needed the return of Big Jock before that future become today.

Rangers in 2018, with their obsession with money and buying-in ready made, are not even husbanding their meagre resources as well as the notoriously miserly Kelly and the “Biscuit Tin” board did back all those years ago.

On average, during the “Wilderness Years”, Rangers finished 16 points ahead of Celtic (I did the calculations at 3pts for a win, so as to level the playing field with later comparisons). However, towards the end of this sorry era, as I said, Kelly was building for the future. When Stein arrived, only Willie Wallace of the Lisbon Lions was not already at the club, a tribute to the ability of Kelly, and, it should never be forgotten or under-estimated, Sean Fallon, to spot a player.

Fallon and Stein - Sean's part in building the Lions has maybe been understated

Is there today a Jim Craig or a John Clark, perhaps the least-lauded of the Lions, waiting there in the Rangers reserves, for a coaching genius to arrive and sport their potential? I doubt it.

When, after Stein's return, the power pendulum swung Celtic's way, their average points margin over Rangers was 10 points per season, but, in 9 of the 21 seasons between Stein's arrival back at Celtic as manager, and Souness arriving at Ibrox, the Old Firm finished first and second 9 times, Celtic being top 8 times and Rangers once during these 1-2 seasons.

During Celtic's wilderness years there was never an Old Firm 1-2, with Celtic finishing ahead of their traditional rivals just twice, during their Double season in 1953-54 and again the following season, 1954-55.

We once had genuine provincial opposition to the Old Firm

Unlike today, however, the provincial teams could, and did, offer stern opposition, with Hibs, three times, Hearts, twice, Aberdeen, Dundee and Kilmarnock all winning the league in this period.

Even during the Stein-dominated era, albeit after he had left Celtic and before Souness arrived, we had that all-too-short age of the New Firm of Aberdeen and Dundee United. I do not see a provincial challenge on the horizon today.

Last season, the gap between Celtic and Rangers was 39 points; this season, it is already 13 points, so Rangers are still a long way behind. I fear, from a Rangers perspective, that gap will take a lot of bridging, and I don't see the engineers arriving any time soon.