[beartons]

What a difference walter smith and ally mccoist have made at Ibrox,apart from the dreadful performance midweek against osasauna,they have look much more organised and they are defending better at last"
Celtic are a much better team going forward,they have skillful players in nakamura,mcgeady etc and have confidence and momentum on their side,not to mention more money to spend at the present moment,yet with a bit of fight from Rangers,Celtic were beaten"
Celtic maybe should have scored 1 or 2 in the first half,but they never did,Rangers scored early into the 2nd half and Celtic crumbled,Rangers had belief and could have maybe have scored a second! yes there were penalty claims here and there but i dont think they were stone wallers,the mcgeady one was maybe a penalty but thats hard to call being a ref,but from the replay pics celts fans could be annoyed not to get it"
Celtic shouldnt complain however,they had their chances,and never took them,and in the end i feel Rangers deserved the victory"
hopefully next year Rangers can buy some decent players and give celtic a challenge,i still believe celtic are a better team than Rangers and they rightfully so should be favourites,Rangers are still in crisis because of the terrible running of the club between 2000-2003,but slowly and surely we should gradually bridge the gap,it could have been worse,as we can see in Leeds utd!
bad luck to celtic in europe,i thought they played brilliant and done scotland proud,and were unfortunate to lose considering their overall performance,albeit a bit of class from kaka!
Good luck to Rangers for tomorrow night against the spaniards in their own backyard, they need to play far better than they did at home or they have no chance,but if they do they can sneak a victory!

[Matt the Thrasher]

Does this mean Rangers will be mounting a serious title challenge next season?

[snk]

you bet therell be a great title race on next year, although i dont think strachan will enjoy it so much

[Matt the Thrasher]

I dunno, I think Celtic need a strong Rangers & vice versa, Walter Smith certainly seems to have made a huge difference though.

[aisuru]

i hate the old firm equally, so i don't like to see either one dominate for too long. thus, i hope the Huns take the title next season, just for balance.

[Joe]

it was the best performance by Rangers at parkhead in somne time. I do think that they came as a damage limitation excercise in the first half and opened up in the second half - shrewd management by Smith as he would have known Celtic would tire after the CL exploits.

It makes the title race much more appealing next year, even as a Celtic fan I enjoy competition, it is the only way that both teams can improve.

On the subject of the UEFA cup, I never seen the first leg, reports suggest that Rangers were fortunate to get an equaliser, they will have their work cut out in Spain, I don't hold Beartons' confidence that they can do it, but stranger things have happened.

[beartons]

Originally Posted by Joe

it was the best performance by Rangers at parkhead in somne time. I do think that they came as a damage limitation excercise in the first half and opened up in the second half - shrewd management by Smith as he would have known Celtic would tire after the CL exploits.

It makes the title race much more appealing next year, even as a Celtic fan I enjoy competition, it is the only way that both teams can improve.

On the subject of the UEFA cup, I never seen the first leg, reports suggest that Rangers were fortunate to get an equaliser, they will have their work cut out in Spain, I don't hold Beartons' confidence that they can do it, but stranger things have happened.

im not over confident,but the point that osasuna should have beaten rangers about 3-0 and couldnt do it has gave me hope,i dont rate them at all, this was Rangers worst performance of the season,yes it was a very rainy and windy night,but osasuana played better than us,but seriously falkirk would have beaten us that night ,we were really bad!
for the point of celtic being tired from the champions league,remember Rangers played in europe the night after celtic,they just didnt have the clinical finishing or desire to beat Rangers,it could have been any result mind you,from a Rangers perspective it was a good day,considering the state we have been in"
Agree with you about the competion ,its boring having only 1 team well ahead,i was bored with Rangers winning all the time in the 90s,id rather see challenges and excitement every year ,with Rangers pipping it at the post lol,!

[beartons]

Originally Posted by Matt the Thrasher

Does this mean Rangers will be mounting a serious title challenge next season?

i hope so,id still favour celtic,we are not getting above ourselves,but at least we have a heartbeat back at the club! so hopefully we can mount a challenge"

[beartons]

Originally Posted by aisuru

i hate the old firm equally, so i don't like to see either one dominate for too long. thus, i hope the Huns take the title next season, just for balance.

i understand your sentiments,im like that with the football everywhere else in the world, i support Liverpool in england,and there is nothing worse than man u and chelsea running the show,maybe arsenal are in their too,but i agree i like to see a regular change,thats why i love the scottish and english first divisions,or whatever we call them nowadays lol!

[beartons]

Originally Posted by Matt the Thrasher

I dunno, I think Celtic need a strong Rangers & vice versa, Walter Smith certainly seems to have made a huge difference though.

agreed,though it would be nice to see hearts,hibs,aberdeen etc up there too like back in the 80s", Hearts could have done better but they have a muppet running their club,they had their chance and blew it!

[Matt the Thrasher]

Originally Posted by beartons

agreed,though it would be nice to see hearts,hibs,aberdeen etc up there too like back in the 80s", Hearts could have done better but they have a muppet running their club,they had their chance and blew it!

Of course in an ideal world it would be good to see the teams you mentioned challenging for the title as well ,but it's not likely to happen , but certainly having one team winning the league by 15 or 20 points is no good ,they have a similar problem in France now with Lyon out of sight going for their 6th title in a row.
If the Edinburgh clubs and Aberdeen say could become geniune challengers then the SPL would be on a par with the EPL or any other major league in the sense that no league has more than 3 or 4 teams capable of winning.