The rivalry between Cetlic and Rangers runs deep. It is an intense, often violent animosity born from ideological differences. But these two diametric opposites find themselves in an extremely similar situation. So much so that for the sneering public gallery of football opinion, their twin-plights have almost been amalgamated.
The Scottish Premiership’s two pillars both played Champions League group stage football this season for the first time since 2007. Rangers spent many of the years since battling for their very existence, but a league title under Steven Gerrard was thought to have righted the ship. The belief that the Gers were back was strengthened last season, when Giovanni van Bronckhorst led them to the final of the Europa League. While they once again ceded the Premiership to Celtic, continental heroics combined with a Scottish Cup win lifted the mood at Ibrox.
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The Champions League was perhaps the worst thing that could have happened to this Rangers side from a morale standpoint. Drawn in a group with Napoli, Ajax and Liverpool, progress always looked a tall order. But the reality was somehow much worse, with Van Bronckhorst’s side lacking fight and drive in a series of stuffings against Europe’s elite. Rangers finished with six defeats from six games, with their -20 goal difference making them officially the worst UCL group stage team of all time.
Normally this would be a cause for celebrations at Parkhead. But there’s been no popping of green and white corks given Celtic’s miserable Champions League campaign. They did fare better than Rangers. Two points better. Scottish sides played 12 Champions League group stage games this season and didn’t win any of them. That is a damning indictment on the current state of the sport in Scotland.
But this is not a platform to point and laugh about the misfortunes of the Scottish game. Rather it is the intention of this piece to look at some of the reasons why Scotland’s big two can’t get a foothold outside their nation.
Go to the soccer-minded side of Twitter at any given time on a slow news day and you’ll see one account or another going for the easy engagement play. In amongst the “What did you call this lightweight plastic football at school?” posts and “Messi or Ronaldo?” nonsense, there is an old favourite. “Where would Celtic and Rangers finish in the Premier League?”. The replies are usually a can-you-top-this menagerie of people finding various ways to say “bottom two”. The thing is, they’re probably not wrong. But how much of that is really Rangers and Celtic’s fault?
Celtic and Rangers were at their most formidable during a time when the football world was a lot smaller. Sides were still largely populated by players from the nation they operated in and Scotland benefited from a strong production line of talent. Kenny Dalglish may be best known as Liverpool’s tartan icon, but he played 338 Celtic games before heading south of the border. Compare that with modern day Anfield Scotsman Andy Robertson, who played just 97 games in the domestic pyramid before moving on.
The window is getting shorter for Scottish talent to ply their trade in the country before being snapped up. Billy Gilmour never got further than spells in the Celtic and Rangers academies before Chelsea snapped him up. Ryan Fraser played just 23 league games for Aberdeen before being whisked to England by Bournemouth.
This pillaging of Scottish talent is harmful but understandable. Premier League clubs are under such pressure to compete that they cast the net far and wide for an edge. Why wait for a player to make a name in Scotland when they can snap them up and loan them out in the Championship or League One? The transfer arms race is more intense than ever and English clubs pay more, meaning they will always have the advantage when it comes to tempting Scottish starlets.
Another factor hampering the development of Scottish football is an age-old problem. The lack of competitiveness in the top tier is harmful even to the two clubs who duke it out for the league each year. Steel sharpens steel and apart from when they play each other, there isn’t much steel upon which to sharpen. Teams who do get a result against the Glasgow giants are treated with the same patronising shock-and-awe that Jamaica received for scoring a try at the Rugby League World Cup.
It is this reality that is used as an argument to move Rangers and Celtic across to the Premier League. The naysayers probably are right as it stands. The current Rangers and Celtic squads would likely struggle in the hyper-competitive English top flight. But what about in four or five years' time, when the two Scottish sides have had rights fees and parachute payments with which to bring their sides up to code? With both teams playing to rabid fanbases and full stadiums, they would be incredibly well-placed to challenge.
That financial boon would make the Glasgow teams far more competitive in Europe that we’ve just seen. That is quite possibly the crux of the issue. Both were pitched in groups against teams who far outstrip them for resources. Celtic can’t match RB Leipzig for funds, never mind Real Madrid. Similarly, Rangers can’t outspend Napoli so what hope do they have when they come up against Liverpool? A move to the English pyramid might not be popular, but is likely the only thing that can end Celtic and Rangers’ Champions league nightmare long-term.
The two sides are in an awkward hinterland. As Rangers showed last season, Scotland’s best do have a place in continental football. But this season has reminded both that said place probably isn’t in the Champions League. The situation is unlikely to improve if the status quo is maintained. The potential solutions may seem unpalatable as it stands, but how long before Celtic and Rangers’ dismal European showings become similarly intolerable?
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