Beam me up, Scotty - Rangers & Scotland CM Story

A defeat for one of the two biggies: that is rare - wow!

Can you clinch the title, or better yet: remain unbeaten in the league and clinch the title - Don't know if that would be a first for Rangers, or at all in Scotland...

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@Danimal5981 wrote:

A defeat for one of the two biggies: that is rare - wow!

Can you clinch the title, or better yet: remain unbeaten in the league and clinch the title - Don't know if that would be a first for Rangers, or at all in Scotland...

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Yes, Celtic losing is very rare indeed. I suppose some flowers to Aberdeen would be in order.

I'd actually envisioned that BOTH could have gone through an unbeaten season, having done it this far into the season. That would have been awesome IMO, to have two unbeaten teams in the league, with something as rare as an undefeated runner-up. I suppose it could still happen, if Celtic go all the way, but it does look like the title is mine to lose at this point.

From what I can tell, an unbeaten season has happened 4 times in Scotland.

1897/98; Celtic, P18, W15, D3.

1898/99; Rangers, P18, W18.

2016/17; Celtic, P38, W34, D4.

2020/21; Rangers, P38, W32, D6.

Once again cancelling each other out, but this season could make Rangers lead in this regard.

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@CO88LER5 wrote:
I think you're going to win the league this time round.

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Maybe. Celtic's recent form certainly suggests it, but there is a derby in match 30, and of course one more in the Championship Round. So it's not written in stone just yet.

Slip up against Hibs, good draw in Spain and another victory against Celtic.  It seems that things are going well on balance.  Presumably, the Hibs result isn't that bad in this context.

You must be favourites to progress against Vallecano in the return leg.

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@CO88LER5 wrote:

Slip up against Hibs, good draw in Spain and another victory against Celtic.  It seems that things are going well on balance.  Presumably, the Hibs result isn't that bad in this context.

You must be favourites to progress against Vallecano in the return leg.

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Well, the draw in Spain WAS in fact the return leg. Having won 2-0 at home, with the first goal against the run of play and the second coming after a sending-off for Rayo. I'll play Spurs next, in the last 8 of the competition.

The Hibernian draw did invite Celtic back in, but beating them in between the two Rayo games was certainly helpful and keeps Celtic 4 points behind.

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@CO88LER5 wrote:
So it was. Dunno how I missed that. It's not so easy to track stuff on this site as it was on the forum, or maybe it's my age...

Spurs is going to be a difficult one.

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Don't worry about it. Keeping track on a couple of saves, providing feedback for the one posting them, sometimes you'll miss a thing or two.

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@CO88LER5 wrote:
I don't understand how this works. How do you get to play St Mirren, if they aren't in the Championship Group? I thought the end of season grouping meant that teams in each group only played each other...?

Presumably, Celtic are top because they have more wins...?

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Glad you asked mate. St.Mirren was match 33, so the final game of the "regular season", before the league was divided in top and bottom groups. So you are on point assuming that the clubs in the top half only play their final five games against other clubs in the top.

Celtic first, I think it's down to alphabetic order, to be honest. I had my doubts last season, where I lead on goal difference, and I couldn't tell if the goal difference counted the full season or only the championship group. Now it seems that only the points are carried over, whilst goals for and against is reset before the final five games.

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@CO88LER5 wrote:
Didn't think you'd beat Tottenham, so well done.

Spurs have a rather unbelievable mix of players - de Bruyne, Shaw, Martinez, Griezmann, Alvarez. It is strange what the game does in these areas.

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Yes, and especially in the big leagues. Now, I currently play in Scotland, and I've previously played in the Danish league too. And my experience from both is, that the teams tend to have much less activity in the transfer windows, so their squads often remain quite recognizable, even 4-5 seasons in. There are pros and * for every league, I think, but the reduced transfer activity is definitely a pro for me, when I start up away from the 'BIG 5'.

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@CO88LER5 wrote:
You seem to have got the upper hand against Celtic now, as you are winning most matches against them.

Looks like a league/European double at the very least.

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League, yes... European title, well, it seems the second leg did not go to plan. My recent upper hand vs Celtic failed this time, I'm afraid. A domestic double is still in the picture, but a European title will have to wait for now.

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@CO88LER5 wrote:
One down, one to go.
A domestic double, then?
It'll be interesting to see if Celtic win the Europa.
It's a pity that none of the other Scottish teams seem able to put in a challenge domestically. One of them needs an Alex Ferguson, I think.

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Yes, well, I don't expect another Alex Ferguson to drop by anytime soon though. But truly, what he achieved with Aberdeen does really emphasize what kind of generational talent he was as a manager. Never since has a non-Glasgow side won the Premiership. Rangers were even thrown several tiers down a few years back, and still no one else were able to go up and make a proper challenge in the title race.