I want to start this column by congratulating Hearts for winning the Championship. It hasn’t been smooth sailing by a long shot for Neilson’s men, but despite all that, they got the job done. There have been unexpected hiccups along the way, but hopefully, we see a change in their approach play in the Premiership next season.
I personally am not a fan of Neilson and his conservative tactics, but this is not the time or place to go after this (especially since they won the Championship yesterday). My sincere hope is Ann Budge realises that simply throwing money is not the best approach in a lot of circumstances and next season’s challenges have to be met with innovation especially given the COVID issues that all teams will be facing.
Rangers, on the other hand, retained their unbeaten league form as they went past Hibs fairly comfortably (much more than the 2-1 scoreline suggests). Gerrard’s men are now 20 points ahead of Celtic as the latter had a dominant display against Livi. So much so that David Martindale suggested that Celtic should keep on John Kennedy for the next season as the permanent manager. It’s probably not going to happen but well done Mr Martindale for suggesting that as the online sphere of Celtic fans were not happy.
Celtic fans under intense scrutiny
Some Celtic fans also embarrassed the club as they set off fireworks while the Celtic and Livi players were observing a moment’s silence for His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh. A cowardly act, as you are celebrating the death of someone. It doesn’t matter what your opinion is about a person; you don’t celebrate their death.
These Celtic fans were standing in a graveyard next to the ground. In an Instagram post, the group boasted: “Don’t let crown get you down.”
Apparently, the police are investigating this matter, so I will keep an eye out for any update coming out of this. It’s a shame that this is not highlighted more in the MSM as we all need to do our part in calling out horrible behaviour such as these.
Moving on, Rangers had a bit of a nervy evening today as they went past Hibs 2-1. Both goals from Rangers were actually fantastic. The first one by Aribo was composure exemplified as he placed his volley perfectly in the corner. On the other hand, the second goal by Ryan Kent was one of the best in the season. He got hold of the ball on the right wing, and simply drifted inside. From outside the box, he let out a rocket which the goalkeeper had no chance of saving. The best part is that not one of the Hibs players actually thought there was much danger when Kent was coming in field. Really expect Kent to be doing more of this in the coming months.
Still unbeaten in the league and set to face Celtic in the Cup next week, this was a nice practice before the real test.
Before I finish the column, I have a little bit of bad news. Thomas will not be doing a podcast this week due to an emergency. Apologies about that. However, I intend to be as active as possible in the coming days and weeks.
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