ON THE morning after Rangers' defeat by Inverness Caledonian Thistle, the "hotline" column of a tabloid newspaper carried an item which revealed at least one fan's astounding perspicacity.
These uncannily prophetic comments, it should be stressed, were posted hours before the kick-off at Ibrox and could have fixed odds punters flocking to his door in search of lucrative forecasts.
"Walter (Smith) is surely having a laugh," he said,
"when he says he's going to give Davie Weir another year's contract. I have been watching him for the past few weeks and he's an accident waiting to happen."
A few hours later, the veteran Rangers central defender would commit the error that led to Caley Thistle's injury-time penalty kick, Ian Black's match-winning conversion and his own ordering-off.
Anyone paying as close attention as that hotline subscriber through the course of this season would have been less shocked by the scoreline than those bookmakers' odds compilers, who had priced Terry Butcher's side as high as 18-1 on the night.
Despite occasional surges of form that have brought unbeaten runs, neither member of the Old Firm has given the impression of a team heading onwards and upwards towards ever-heightening standards. Indeed, the visual evidence of general mediocrity is supported by statistics which suggest that, since last season, their level of performance has been on the wane. When Celtic's recent draw at Motherwell finally brought the pair together at the top of the Scottish Premier League, there was widespread speculation that the title would be decided by the Glasgow giants' respective form in away matches. This, however, seems much more appropriate to Rangers than to their great rivals.
While Celtic have conceded nine points at home, they have lost only three more on the road. Rangers, on the other hand, have dropped eight at Ibrox and precisely double that amount on their travels. But it is the pair's overall totals which hint at deterioration.
Celtic have two fewer than at the same stage last season, but Rangers are a full 11 points off the pace they were setting after 28 matches. This has resulted in their six-point lead last March having been turned into a three-point deficit a year later. Nor has there been a telling improvement in the chasing pack. Motherwell, in third place 12 months ago with 46 points, have been replaced by Hearts on 48.
The most striking – and revealing – aspect of these figures is that they have been "achieved" without the so-called "distraction", or physical and mental demands, of being involved in Europe. If anything, this season's performances by the country's two leading sides expose the myth of the rigours of competing in domestic and continental football.
Rangers, of course, famously made it all the way to the Uefa Cup final last season, having first contested the group phase of the Champions League. Celtic retained an interest in the premier tournament until March, when they were eliminated from the last 16 by Barcelona.
Rangers were excused European football altogether this time, having been evicted by Kaunas even before the season started, while Celtic completed the group stage of the Champions League in early December.
Significantly, the Parkhead side's least productive period of the campaign – in January and February, when they lost a seven-point lead – occurred long after their departure from Europe.
All of this tends to reinforce the comments made by Neil Lennon three years ago, when, in an interview for a feature in The Scotsman, he responded to the proposal that Celtic's run to the Uefa Cup final in Seville had cost them the domestic championship in 2003.
"Oh, I don't go along with that at all," said Lennon. "The truth is that players much prefer playing to training.
"If you're involved in Europe, with midweek games, you don't need to train much anyway, and it's much less boring. Believe me, playing in Europe is no handicap. If anything, it keeps players fresher, happier and much more likely to do well than if they weren't."
The full article contains 689 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
