Celtic triumph as Rangers falter again

Filed in archive Scottish Premier League on May 23, 2008

Celtic took the Scottish Premier League title last night with a 1-0 win away at Dundee United whilst Rangers fell to a 2-0 defeat at Aberdeen.

A season that looked as though it was going to be something very special for Walter Smith's men is in danger of completely blowing up in their faces.

Having already won the League Cup, just a few weeks ago Rangers were looking to win an historic and remarkable quadruple of trophies. They were well clear in the Premier League title race, in the Scottish Cup Final and in the UEFA Cup Final.

Two defeats at Celtic in the League, followed by defeat to Zenit St Petersburg in the UEFA Cup Final have left Rangers with only Saturday's Cup Final against Queen of the South to rescue their season. Although red hot favourites to win that game, it is by no means certain that Rangers will be able to lift themselves back up.

Although Rangers will be looking at themselves to ask how they let the league slip away from them, giving Celtic their third successive title, the fact that since 29th March when Rangers beat Celtic 1-0 at Ibrox, they have played an astonishing seventeen games in fifty-four days may well provide the answer.

At that point, Rangers were six points clear in the league and they had a game in hand on their rivals. Since then they have won only five games (although they have also won twice on penalties), drawing seven and losing four. Prior to this run, Rangers had lost only seven games all season, a majority of which were in the Champions League.

There is no doubt that tiredness has played it's part. In the same period that Rangers have played seventeen games, Celtic have played just eight, winning seven of them.

Many congratulations should go to Gordon Strachan and Celtic for never giving up and winning a hat-trick of titles. Rangers will be waking up this morning and wondering how it has all gone wrong. Of course, they've only got a few hours to recover before they play yet again.