Rangers and Celtic fans in agreement

[Blue Stars Bearette]

that display yesterday was dire and not worth the season ticket money/ticket price

ET today

You wouldn’t open curtains to watch this in your own back garden

by Darrell King

A STRANGE occurrence took place in the East End of Glasgow yesterday as the Old Firm met for the third time this season.

Not the sight of someone in blue or green and white actually passing to a team-mate, not even a neat passing move or piece of quality that had you gasping. No, they were both far too rank rotten for that.

Reader Poll

Was yesterday’s Celtic v Rangers clash at Parkhead the worst Old Firm game ever?

Yes

74.2%

No

21.0%

Don't know

4.8%

Instead, there was a unification of thoughts and minds, a rare coming together of Celtic and Rangers fans to confirm a common theme - that these are two of the poorest, most mediocre sides they have ever witnessed taking part in the famous Glasgow fixture.

My goodness, if the last meeting of the two at Ibrox just the other side of Christmas was rightly described as dire, then it was a World Cup Final compared to this insipid offering of a football match that was served up by the big two at Parkhead yesterday.

In a country dominated by two teams, and bereft of quality throughout its length and breadth, maybe there is an over-hyping of these Old Firm fixtures, something we are all essentially guilty of.

But when they are stripped bare, as the Old Firm were yesterday for a crowd of close on 59,000 and millions watching on TV around the globe, the stark truth isn't pretty.

There has been a rapid decline in class of player at both clubs, a standard of operators now pulling on blue and green-and-white hooped jerseys that would not have been allowed to carry the hampers at this fixture a few years ago.

Of course, financial handcuffs have played their part, with Rangers and Celtic now way down the food chain when it comes to getting in top quality personnel.

But could we not expect better? Did the paying public not deserve more than what they got, players unable to pass a ball 10 yards to a team-mate, horrendous attempts at long balls and chances on both sides that left you without the need for a second had to count them?

OK, standards have dramatically slipped, that has been borne out by the fact Rangers crashed out of Europe this season back in August to a team from Lithuania, while Celtic couldn't make it beyond Christmas after being dumped by a second rate Danish outfit that were languishing in the lower reaches of their own championship at the time they inflicted that embarrassment.

The rest of the SPL have also proved they are no longer untouchable, laying gloves on both halves of the Old Firm this season to the extent that 36 points have been shipped between them.

But my goodness, that was as bad as it gets and several players, big name international performers, produced absolutely nothing.

Long-term, on and off the field, there has to be grave concerns. Will fans want to sign up again when season ticket renewals come around, with reservoirs of loyalty, goodwill and cash now being drained?

Surely football has a duty to be an entertainment. Right now, if the Old Firm were playing against each other in your back garden, you wouldn't open the curtains to watch them.

Short term, though, there is a championship race on, and it is anyone's title. So, with 13 games to go, just who gleaned most from yesterday.

Unquestionably, it was a better day's work for Walter Smith. His side remain two points adrift of Celtic, but have taken four from six at Parkhead this season and that could prove important.

Rangers, for the first half anyway, looked like a side who were afraid to cross the halfway line. Given the way Celtic have been at the back in recent times, that cautious approach was very strange.

Their hosts, bar a Scott McDonald header which he ought to have scored with, did nothing. They couldn't find any way past a Rangers team that had come to dig into the trenches, and were intent on a war of midfield attrition.

That lack of cutting edge was mainly down to the absence of Aiden McGeady, who was for some reason left on the bench by Gordon Strachan in what was one of the strangest team decisions of his tenure.

By the time McGeady entered the fray the momentum had swung Rangers' way, they at last found a bit of menace and Strachan had the much-maligned Artur Boruc to thank for two saves that prevented his starting XI being at the fulcrum of a massive dissection into a defeat.

Now, this title is likely to be defined by who drops least on the road in the run-in. There are eight games until the split, and Rangers appear - on paper - to have an easier journey until the next Old Firm game which will be on their own patch.

Celtic are in a rut, of that there is no doubt, and will have to improve dramatically. Strachan has to start taking big decisions, like removing Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink from the starting team, a player who is as mobile as an oil tanker.

McGeady needs to start every week as he gives Celtic something no other team in the league has, or this could prove to be Strachan's downfall.

As for Smith, he has to win a title and keep his job, so he was right to be more content even if many of the support felt Gers should have had more of a go.

To that end, a point was no bad return and if Rangers can rack up wins they might well be top by the time the last Old Firm league game comes around.

In between, we have an Old Firm Cup Final in a month's time. I can hardly wait...

Publication date 16/02/09

[*Manticore*]

I disagree

[TannochsideBear]

That is a decent article for a change, and is hard to argue with.

Penalties at Hampden anyone??

[Blue Stars Bearette]

Celtic are in a rut, of that there is no doubt, and will have to improve dramatically. Strachan has to start taking big decisions, like removing Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink from the starting team, a player who is as mobile as an oil tanker.