53 and Counting
Well done the light blues. Rangers won their 53rd Scottish League title with three games to spare by beating Hibernian 1-0 at Easter Road this afternoon. The winning goal, which came after 17 minutes, was from Kyle Lafferty, possibly the most unpopular footballer in his household. Well certainly the most unpopular in Scotland at any rate.
Rangers have been out in front for so long it was a question of when not if. The football hasn't been pretty, the players have looked knackered since Christmas and the club remains on the verge of financial meltdown. Add to that the fact that Walter Smith, Kris Boyd and a number of other familiar faces at Ibrox are out of contract in a few weeks and you get celebrations that will be long, hard and well earned.
What this season has reiterated to me is how poor the standard of Scottish football is. I said last year that of the Rangers squad in 2008-9 only two could make it in England well one of them, Pedro Mendes, is back home in Portugal. It says something about where Scottish football resides in European terms when the Champions two most expensive signings have come from Wigan and Burnley and their player of the year was at Fulham and Portsmouth. The former Captain of today's opponents left last summer to go and play for Scunthorpe - hardly a ringing endorsement for the SPL!
Still all that said, a title is a title and 53 national titles is a world record. So well done the 'Light Blues.'
2 comments:
53 is still impressive in a not-much-more-than 100 year history...even if there are/were/always will be only two teams there. Where would they fit in England? Championship play-offs?
I think Championship would be right. There is an argument that says once Celtic and Rangers got their hands on more TV money they would settle their debts, get better players and become decent Premiership sides. Mind you, they said that about Hull and Portsmouth and Leeds, Norwich, Charlton, Southampton, Ipswich, QPR, Palace, Sheffied Wednesday, West Brom and Newcastle.
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