Batbricks7

Some Rangers supporters don’t understand how lucky they are to have Philippe Clement in charge.

Philippe Clement says there is “zero challenge” for him with regard to motivating his players sufficiently well to win Rangers a domestic Treble.

Should they accomplish that feat there will be zero tolerance among the Celtic support for the side who started the season as Treble holders and finished it trophyless.

Tolerance is an optional extra within Scottish football, mainly conspicuous by its absence on a historical basis. How embarrassing would it be for Celtic to lose everything they once had to a club who sacked their manager Michael Beale seven league games into the season and had at one point trailed Brendan Rodgers’ side by eight points in the league? And lost the first two Old Firm games of the season to their greatest rivals into the bargain.

That’s why the end to this season will be able to be described in one of two ways for Celtic. Glorious or gruesome. Three derbies in quick succession to decide league and Cup, if that is what happens at the expense of Aberdeen and Hearts at the penultimate stage, has a claustrophobic look to it for a team as unconvincing as this Celtic side.

That’s why any celebration of Rangers’ exit from the Europa League at the hands of Benfica on Thursday night would be misguided. That reversal has served only to fix the minds of the Ibrox players and management on the business of compensation in the form of completing a domestic coup.

And disappointment among the majority of Rangers fans will be muted because they value a title win above all else. Only those who were obsessed with the idea of going to Dublin for a European final will be experiencing a sense of loss.

I have this recurring image of a perplexed Clement being told by his members of staff with local knowledge why a visit to Dublin was so important to an element within his team’s support and the Belgian trying to work out what they’re talking about.

This is a sophisticated man of high intelligence and academic achievement trying to build a modern team. Primitive behaviour is alien to him. When Martin Boyle lay stricken on the pitch with a serious head injury at Easter Road last Sunday, Rangers’ medical staff, appreciating the gravity of the situation, stayed on the field to assist their Hibs counterparts in any way they could.