It would not have taken much for post‑match media comments to prove more engaging than an awful – think bald men and a comb – Old Firm clash. Russell Martin and Brendan Rodgers duly delivered. Perhaps it was inevitable that a derby supposed to endorse such strongly held viewpoints about one half of Glasgow would end in stalemate.
The boos that rang out at full time demonstrated the scale of work Martin has to do in order to win over hearts and minds. The Rangers manager has been on the back foot since day one, with a poor start to the season strengthening the widely held sense that this is wrong man, wrong club, wrong time.
Rangers were actually the better side and the one which showed more attacking purpose, but four draws to open a Scottish Premiership campaign is not a healthy position. In that quartet of games Rangers have scored just three times. Fans held banners with “Enough is enough” as a message before kick-off against Celtic. The visiting contingent, 2,500 of them, were noticeably subdued. The Ibrox atmosphere was a strange one.
Martin has decided Scotland’s fourth estate is partly responsible for his predicament. Perhaps websites are making an error by printing the Rangers scores. “Until we win football matches there will still be noise,” the Rangers manager said.
“It’s a reaction to games, the job the media have to get clicks. My job is to win games, the media’s job is to create miscommunication between people. The noise gets louder but it doesn’t change one thing we do inside the building. I’ve had it before as a player and manager already. The only way to change the noise is to win matches.”
It was not the press who decided to leave Nico Raskin, Rangers’ best midfielder, out of the squad for Celtic’s visit amid speculation about the Belgian’s future. Martin refused to discuss Raskin’s situation but confirmed the Rangers squad was addressed on Saturday by the club’s American owners. The message there was apparently clear; that Martin would be going nowhere. “I haven’t felt one change in the owners’ attitude towards me,” Martin said. “If anything I’ve felt more support than ever in the last week.”
Celtic’s scenario is more complex. Rodgers is clearly irritated by the champions’ failure to recruit forward players well in advance of this season. One glance at the Irishman’s face as he took to the Ibrox podium told us all that much. They have paid the penalty through Champions League elimination. “I think it’s about profile of player,” Rodgers said. “I think I’ve been very clear on that.
“It’s been so clear what the team has needed and what’s required. I really hope that in this period we can do that because it’s Celtic’s DNA; attacking intent, mentality and that bit of quality when you arrive into the final third.
Twelve months ago with the dynamism in the team and the speed and the creativity, everything was there and you feel you can go into games and be really dynamic and creative and that’s what we all want to see.
“We’ve had a long time to reinforce the squad and listen, I’m hopeful that we can do that and get it over the line. The game is about the quality of your player. You can take the game to different levels based on your players.”
It feels nonsensical that Celtic, cash rich and supposedly ambitious, find themselves in this pickle with only hours of a transfer window remaining. They were painfully blunt in what was a rare scoreless Old Firm joust. Celtic have failed to score in three of their past four games. “We can assess it at the end of the window,” Rodgers said. “I repeat again, every manager wants players in early to bed them in and adapt his system and the styles and get that profile of play what we need. But we’re hopeful that we can do our work in this next period.”
What came before really was a non-event. John Souttar had the ball in the Celtic net after half an hour, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside. Rangers had earlier appealed in vain for a penalty after Bojan Miovski, who showed promise on his debut, tumbled under a challenge from Liam Scales.
Long before full time, Celtic seemed content to take a point. Rangers, who have been prone to defensive calamity, were grateful for the clean sheet. “The quality of the game wasn’t at a high enough level,” Rodgers said. What a wonderful understatement.
