Scottish Premiership season preview: Rangers to dominate Celtic in Old Firm tussle again
This time last year, Celtic were effectively planning their parade to celebrate a 10th successive league title.
The Hoops’ dominance at the top of the Scottish game was well-established and Neil Lennon’s side were widely expected to continue that dominance by completing a fabled ’10-in-a-row,’ a mission that had guided the club for a number of years.
A lot has changed in 12 months, though.
Now, the script has been flipped almost entirely. With the start of the 2021/22 Scottish Premiership season upon us, Rangers are the ones with the seemingly unassailable advantage at the top.
Celtic, on the other hand, find themselves at the start of a painful transition which has them already written off as title challengers for many.
It is an unwritten rule of Scottish football that one of Glasgow two big clubs must be soaring at any given time with the other in the dirt. There must always be a good guy and a bad guy - while new Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou isn’t yet the bad guy, having only arrived in Scotland only a month ago, Steven Gerrard is most certainly the good guy.
Indeed, Gerrard is Scottish football’s predominant managerial force just as Brendan Rodgers was for three years at Celtic. The former Liverpool captain has built a Rangers team that is more than the sum of its parts and there is a sense they have improved again over the summer with Fashion Sakala and John Lundstram impressive new additions.
Celtic have also been active in the transfer market, with over £12m spent on the signing of Kyogo Furuhashi, Liel Abada, Carl Starfelt, Liam Shaw and Osaze Urhoghide.
Postecoglou’s team is still very much a work-in-progress, though, especially in central defence, where the Australian coach is relying on youth - 21-year-old Stephen Welsh and 18-year-old Dane Murray started Wednesday’s Champions League qualifying defeat to FC Midtjylland.
They are currently in such a state that Aberdeen and Hibernian surely harbour quiet confidence that they can challenge Celtic for second place this season. The former are also in the midst of a transition after the departure of Derek McInnes after eight years, but the Dons look to have made more progress much earlier.
Scottish Premiership odds (via Sky Bet)
- Rangers - 4/11
- Celtic - 7/4
- Aberdeen - 80/1
- Hibernian - 150/1
Odds correct at 1100 BST (29/07/2021)
Stephen Glass was hired, in no small part, to turn Aberdeen into a more dynamic, attack-focused outfit and has achieved some early success in this mission on the basis of the Dons’ Europa Conference League performances. Scott Brown, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Declan Gallagher and Christian Ramirez have added some real quality to their squad.
Hibernian have given themselves a platform by finishing third in their first season under Jack Ross. Their chances of improving on that could hinge on whether or not they can keep Scotland international and top goalscorer, Kevin Nisbet, who handed in a transfer request in the January window. Nisbet still has his admirers.
At the other end of the table, Motherwell could find themselves in a relegation scrap if they don’t turn around their poor early season form. Graham Alexander is already under pressure with many of his new signings unproven north of the border. Having lost Gallagher and Allan Campbell this summer, this could be a difficult campaign for the Steelmen.
Livingston enjoyed an historic 11-game unbeaten run in the league last season, but their form either side of that streak was underwhelming. If this was the default setting for David Martindale’s side, they could quickly find themselves in trouble this term.
Dundee, whose promotion caught some by surprise last season, will also be concerned with merely staying in the top flight.
St Mirren have ambitions of finishing in the top half having missed out on the final day last season while new Dundee United manager Tam Courts will also be judged on whether he can carry his team higher up the table after a ninth place finish last term, and whether the Tangerines can play in a more attractive way.
Beyond Rangers, who will almost certainly keep their league crown for another season, the 2021/22 campaign could be one of the most competitive in recent memory with Hearts also back in the division after promotion.
With the exception of the trophy itself, everything is up for grabs in the Scottish Premiership.
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