Celtic have been the most dominant force in Scottish football for years with Rangers remaining in their shadow.
Brendan Rodgers wrapped up the Parkhead club’s fourth title in a row after Celtic beat Dundee United to go 18-points clear at the top of the table.
Rangers’ draw at St Mirren later that day meant the gap was reduced to 17 points but, in truth, the league was over well before that date as Celtic have been motoring on this season losing just four games out of 33.
However, Celtic’s trophy dominance caused casualties over at Ibrox as Rangers sacked Philippe Clement and his coaching staff after the embarrassing Scottish Cup defeat to Queen’s Park.
And speaking out about his time as coach at the club, Alex Rae has shared what he told Ally McCoist about trying to catch Celtic as part of the Ibrox backroom staff.
Former Rangers coach Alex Rae’s ‘unbearable’ Celtic pain
Alex Rae is a man connected to Rangers that Celtic fans do have a certain dislike for. The former Ibrox coach has now taken up punditry duties and here, he explains how difficult it was to try and stop Celtic’s dominance.
Rae told Superscoreboard [1h 26m], “Yeah, I think, yeah, there’s no doubt about it [talking about how he realised early how hard it was going to be to catch Celtic].
“But Celtic have been like that for several years. Last year we managed to claw back and make it a title race, but then it fizzled out towards the end, and it was probably a bit closer than people would envisaged.
This season we didn’t quite get off to the start. And the one thing that becomes very apparent, is that when your opposition are steamrolling, it becomes [difficult]. I met Ally McCoist, I don’t know, maybe about six weeks, eight weeks.
“It was a Tottenham game, and I was like, my God, how many tin helmets do you need here? You know, because the pressure is unbearable at times because you’re just constantly getting scrutiny, and it’s very difficult if you’re not getting the results.
“So, and I would imagine it would be the same if the roles were reversed if it was with Celtic
What Alex Rae admitted about Celtic that cost Philippe Clement his Rangers job
Rae has been out of work since February when Clement was let go and Rae has admitted that trying to copy Celtic cost the Belgian his Ibrox job.
Rae said, “What they were trying to do was trying to get a sustainable model with buying younger players and then developing them. Similar to what Celtic do, really.
“But in doing that they took a helluva lot of experience out of the camp as well. And these guys were learning on the ground.”
Celtic have been using this model for decades and it takes time to bed in a policy of buying young talent with a view to improving them to sell on at a profit whilst still winning trophies.
It’s an art Celtic have mastered and simply cannot be replicated in one season. As for Rangers, they are still searching for a manager as Rodgers searches for another treble and Celtic fans will be hoping that continues for a long while yet.
