Attendance 58,997
It was a defeat that will surely seal the fate of Manager Alex McLeish – yet for the first-half at least Rangers were the better side, controlling most of the play but crucially failing to convert that possession into goals.
There were many who anticipated that ‘Eck’ would not be making a return visit to Celtic Park today as Rangers’ Manager following the fiasco of the League Cup tie ten days ago, but he remained in charge to make four changes with Ronald Waterreus, Marvin Andrews, Brahim Hemdani and Francis Jeffers replacing Stefan Klos (at fault for both of Celtic’s goals that night), Julien Rodriguez, Olivier Bernard and Steven Thompson. Celtic meanwhile were unchanged.
On a bitterly cold day in the East End of Glasgow, Rangers made the early running – a Barry Ferguson cross in six minutes breaking off Mo Camara into the path of Jeffers who shot just over from the edge of the box.
Sixty seconds later Hamed Namouchi’s header from an Alan Hutton cross was held by Artur Boruc.
Despite the early Ibrox pressure it was Celtic who took the lead with their first attack – John Hartson converting a Shaun Maloney cutback in eleven minutes.
The Celtic fans celebrated with their customary sectarian abuse aimed at the Ibrox Manager.
Rangers responded positively – and should have been level six minutes later when a Ferguson cross found Namouchi unmarked in front of goal – yet somehow the Tunisian Internationalist headed wide of the target.
Even this early it was all too apparent that these misses would haunt the Champions, even more so when in 33 minutes Ferguson, clean through from a Ricksen pass after Stephen McManus had failed to intercept, elected to round the goalkeeper only for Boruc to pick the ball off his toe.
Rangers could consider themselves unfortunate to be trailing at the interval, but the second-half would prove to be a different story.
Two minutes after the restart Referee Dougie McDonald (in charge of his first ‘Old Firm’ game) produced his first yellow card of the afternoon for an Andrews foul on Maloney. The Celt was stretchered off, but returned to the action within seconds.
Peter Lovenkrands replaced Alan Hutton in 51 minutes – but the Dane would prove to be every bit as much a waste of space as Jeffers.
Celtic had gained the ascendancy since the break, and only a brilliant saving tackle by Ricksen denied Hartson from a Maloney pass in 54 minutes.
Sixty seconds later however it was 2-0 when Bobo Balde headed home a Shunsuke Nakamura cross.
The roof was falling in on the Light Blues – Celtic added a third on the hour when Aidan McGeady turned home a Stilian Petrov cross with Waterreus at fault – the Dutch goalkeeper getting a hand to the ball but failing to keep it out.
Things went from bad to worse for Rangers when Dado Prso limped off in 67 minutes clutching his hamstring, an injury that will certainly keep him out of the Porto game, to be replaced by Steven Thompson.
The visitors had not given up the ghost – Thompson heading over from a Lovenkrands free-kick in 75 minutes, then sixty seconds later Jeffers saw his shot from a Namouchi cutback held by Boruc.
The game was over – but Rangers fought to the end – Ricksen’s 25-yard free-kick in 88 minutes being held at the second attempt by Boruc.
At the final whistle the Champions accepted defeat with their customary good grace and sportsmanship – unlike the losers at Ibrox on 20 August.
A resigned Alex McLeish afterwards reflected:
“The first-half was good, but the second goal left us with a mountain to climb. We had really good chances early on, and had we taken them it would have been a different game. We can take heart from the first-half.
The points gap is now huge – but we have to keep fighting. It’s been a privilege to be Rangers’ Manager. Every decision I take is for the good of the
team.”
Questioned on his future plans, ‘Eck’ was defiant:
“I will be in the dugout in Porto on Wednesday.”
Celtic Manager Gordon Strachan was honest enough to admit:
“We were lucky to be 1-0 up at half-time.”
The blunt and unacceptable truth however is that Rangers have now won just twice in their last twelve games – and of those ten that have failed to produce a victory no fewer than seven have resulted in a blank scoreline.
Equally the Ibrox men are now miles adrift of even a UEFA Cup place – a state of affairs that is wholly unacceptable.
The time has long passed for Chairman David Murray to act – as the man at the top he is responsible for the worst opening to a League campaign by the Light Blues in 22 years. In 1983 such a run led to the resignation of then Manager John Greig.
Over to you, Mr. Murray.
CELTIC: Boruc; Telfer, Balde, McManus, Camara; Nakamura (Agathe 75), Petrov, Lennon, McGeady; Maloney (Thompson 55), Hartson
UNUSED SUBS: Marshall, Virgo, Lawson, Varga, Wallace
RANGERS: Waterreus; Hutton (Lovenkrands 51), Andrews, Kyrgiakos, Murray; Ricksen, Ferguson, Hemdani, Namouchi; Prso (Thompson 67), Jeffers
UNUSED SUBS: Klos, A. Rae, Fanfan, Burke, McCormack
REFEREE Dougie McDonald