On its own, this week's Old Firm defeat was nothing for Rangers manager Ally McCoist to lose much sleep over.
He is bound to be a bit miffed at his side's failure to exert any pressure in the second half; the fact is that for the 40 minutes after Joe Ledley, that well known aerial predator, scored what transpired to be the winning goal Celtic saw out the game with little discomfort. On the other hand, the visitors created several chances in the opening period at Parkhead, including Carlos Bocanegra kneeing the ball over the bar from 2 yards, and of course they would have led had Sone Aluko's rear end not prevented the assistant referee from seeing that Lee Wallace's header had crossed the line before Fraser Forster's ape-like hand clawed it out of danger. Much like the encounter between the two sides in September, there was ultimately little to choose between them, and home advantage was probably the decisive factor.
But, though he continues to exude charisma and calm in his dealings with the press, McCoist is bound to be worried. Celtic might have won nine games in a row, but the main reason they have recovered from being 15 points behind (with two games in hand, mind you) to leading the SPL is that Rangers have won only three of their last seven games - form that, by Old Firm standards, is practically apocalyptic. It would be grossly unfair if the Rangers support were to display mass hysteria should their team drop points at home to Motherwell on Monday, but anything other than a win will go down about as well in Govan as a Buckfast embargo.
What must concern Coisty above all else is what January might bring to Ibrox; for the events of the coming month may have ramifications for both Rangers and Scottish football that stretch well beyond the 2011-12 campaign. He is not going to get a blank cheque book to reinforce the squad; the best he can hope for is some cheap signings, which have as much chance of being duds (a la Ortiz, Bedoya and McKay) as gems (Bocanegra). If the only way to buy new players is to shed Nikica Jelavic for a tidy sum, then I'd suggest, considering the loss of Steven Naismith to a gammy knee for the rest of the season, that he keep his Croat target man and muddle on with what he has. Jelavic, for this writer, is the most talented player in the Scottish game at the current time.
But there's a good chance Jelavic will be offski, whether McCoist likes it or not. Whilst rumours of Liverpool interest at the end of August have subsequently proven frivolous, Roy Hodgson was in the audience in midweek, eyeing the striker up for West Bromwich Albion. I suspect a figure of around £8 million would cause owner Gregg Whyte's eyes to flash up pound signs like a Looney Tunes cartoon character.
That, of course, is not just because that sum would be good business; Rangers' big, whopping mega tax case goes to tribunal on 15th January, I believe. I'll spare my regular readers the tedium of me going through it again, but the long and short of it is that if the Gers lose, they will have to pay up some ridiculous figure of between £20 million and £50 million; even the conservative estimate would force them into administration, closely followed by a fire sale of the likes of Jelavic, Allan McGregor, Steven Davis, and just about anyone with two good legs (so not David Weir then). Points deduction or not, the club could have to face the immediate future with a threadbare squad of young players and, barring the rescue of a sugar daddy, it's possible that the balance could be tipped heavily in favour of Celtic for years to come; Old Firm fans might look at the early nineties, when Celtic narrowly avoided bankruptcy and Rangers won nine-in-a-row with next to no challenge from their neighbours, for some idea of what I mean.
Anyway, Ally McCoist has enough to worry about in the here and now. His expanding waist-line already leads one to wonder whether he deals with the current stresses through comfort eating; if January is a bad month - on or off the field - then there might not be a pie to be found in Ibrox.
L.
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