Former Rangers forward and director of football Gordon Smith has stoked the Hotline flames by claiming the Ibrox side’s title triumph could consign Celtic to years of playing second fiddle.
Smith reckons Ange Postecoglou will require time to get the Hoops back on track.
But Patrick Bannan emailed: “My goodness, Rangers win the league and Gordon Smith has them ruling for years to come. Celtic will be back this season without a doubt.”
And Charles Buchanan said: “I see Gordon Smith is now saying Rangers could rule for years to come. Last time I heard something similar was when Rangers had just won 9 In A Row. Mark Hateley said Celtic were 10 to 15 years behind Rangers. And we know what happened after that.”
Meanwhile Henry Moffat, Stirling, reckons too much has been made of the rivals’ transfer dealings so far and is confident Hoops new boy Osaze Urhoghide will prove to be a hit.
He said: “Rangers fans have a cheek talking about Celtic’s signings. John Lundstram was taking dogs’ abuse from his own supporters last year for his awful displays before being permanently dropped and Fashion Sakala was on the bench for long spells and prone to long runs without hitting the net. Celtic’s young signing would have cost good cash if not for the cross border rule and there was strong interest from Premier League clubs.”
Fellow Celtic fan Stevie Delaney added: “There seems to be a lot of negativity and lack of support from pundits around Celtic's chances in their first qualifying tie with Midtjylland. There's no doubting the Danes’ ability but I don't see why Celtic can't put all your gas at a peep next week.”
The Old Firm saw their hopes of having B teams competing in the bottom tier of the SPFL in a year’s time kiboshed by an indicative vote of league clubs this week.
But Drew Ferguson, Oban, said: “Irrespective of which team you support how is it that colt teams in the lower leagues is a bad thing? The most successful clubs and national sides in the world uses colt teams in the lower leagues to develop their players that eventually improve them so that they can compete for their respective countries whilst bringing extra revenue to the lower leagues they are involved in. Vested interests of the lower leagues will stagnate Scottish football.”
Neil Renton, Edinburgh, said: “With Hibs beating Arsenal, St Johnstone must be licking their lips in anticipation of how many trophies they’d win if they played in England.”
The Euros aftermath rumbles on and our own Michael Gannon’s hard-hitting column on the behaviour of loutish supporters harming the home nations’ hopes of hosting the 2030 World Cup came in for praise.
Andrew Lamb, Fraserburgh, said: “Can I say how well written Michael Gannon’s column was. England have worked hard to rid themselves of knuckle draggers but still have work to do. All those caught on camera throwing bottles or gatecrashing need locked up and banned for life. As for online, racist, lowlifes - these social media people need massively fined until they can find a way of identifying the problem users.”
James Forsyth, Bellshill, added: “With UEFA charges and the conduct of fans at the Euros final, England can not be considered for any future World Cup Final stages.”
And finally Bill McLellan called in from Cumbria in a bid to put the record straight. Bill said: “All the Scotland supporters who slate Gareth Southgate and his team need to get a grip. England reached two semi finals before losing to Italy on penalties in the final of Euro 2020, that is called progress. Scotland meanwhile, in the wilderness for 23 years, garnered a single point, scored one goal, conceded five, finished bottom of their group and were home before the postcards.”
Aye but who was that point against Bill?
