There are too many Scottish football myth to debunk them all but here’s one for starters; the form book goes out the window on Old Firm day.
In actual fact, close scrutiny at the stats would suggest something otherwise.
There will always be the odd bucking of the trend but the reality of these games is that the winning team tends to emerge on top of this fixture.
Which does not auger well for Rangers ahead of Sunday’s game at Celtic Park.
If the Parkhead side have been a little lethargic of late, opting to drop in a few 90-odd minute goals for dramatic effect at Tynecastle and at Dens Park then the league table shows only that they have opened up a ten-point lead over Rangers and have lost little momentum in the immediate aftermath of Brendan Rodgers’ departure to Leicester.
There was the draw against Aberdeen but by contrast Rangers, since that win over Celtic at Ibrox at December, have been as surefooted as a Saturday night drunk. As they prepare to face up to a Celtic side who will effectively seal the title with a win on Sunday afternoon, they do so on the back of a limp run of form – draws to Kilmarnock and Hibs and a Scottish Cup exit to Aberdeen. Landing the kind of punch that would open up some intrigue going into the season’s finale already seems beyond a team who look shorn of the belief such a result would require.
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If that makes for grim reading for those of a certain persuasion, it ought to offer some excitement for Neil Lennon.
The interim Celtic manager will make his fourth debut in this fixture at the weekend – his first came as a player, his second as a caretaker manager, his third as official boss and now, back again, as the stand-in who steadied the ship. There has been ample colour for those observers charting the journey along the way.
Yet there is a feeling that this game is the one that could be particularly definitive when it comes to shaping just whether or not he lands the job on a permanent basis. Still smarting from the manner of the defeat to Rangers, their first loss in 13 games, Celtic fans don’t just want a win on Sunday but a win with a certain swagger to it. A win which they feel reflects the chasm that still lies between the two teams in terms of quality.
If Lennon can oversee that then it is a significant part of his audition for the job. There are other boxes that he ticks as Celtic will draw a red circle around a wage bill that is tipping towards the £60m mark this summer and look to drive those burgeoning - and unsustainable - figures in the opposite direction.
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On the day when Lennon was confirmed as the short-term successor to Rodgers back in February, a surreal day that came less that 72 hours after Rodgers had taken charge of a routine game against Motherwell and just half a dozen hours before Lennon took the team for a game against Hearts at Tynecastle, he vowed that he would be on his ‘best behaviour.’
In fairness, he has quite consciously made an effort to live up to that part of the deal.
For the most part these last few weeks it has been a measured Lennon that has assumed the role. Even at Dens Park when the mature mask slipped a little, there was a swift explanation of why. Indeed, the why was fairly obvious; if Lennon is to take the job on this summer then he could have ill afforded two successive stutters. If it was a jig of relief, then it will be interesting to see the reaction this weekend from a game where much is demanded of this Celtic team.
Which is why this Sunday, despite the fact that the pressure is all on Steven Gerrard as the likelihood of finishing the campaign without a trophy casts a shadow over his inaugural season in charge of the Ibrox club, that Lennon will roll up a bit of snuff as he seeks to find his own sense of calm among the storm.
If he sought to distance himself from any credit in getting Celtic over the line in the league - “it’s Brendan’s team” - the fact is that getting the job done could well open up a door for Lennon to put his own stamp on the club over the coming season.
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