Alex Rae fires title warning at Celtic

Alex Rae has warned Celtic that they are likely to face a new manager bounce when they travel to Ibrox on January 2.

Over the course of 15 matches Ange Postecoglou’s side have won 14 times to open up a nine point gap at the top of the SPFL table, on Monday morning Giovanni van Bronckhorst lost his job because of that situation.

In many cases a new manager gets a quick reaction from the squad that he inherits but there are absolutely no guarantees with a number of Ibrox players out of contract at the end of the season and a clear out anticipated.

Postecoglou lost three of his first six SPFL matches in charge of Celtic and had to wait until October to feel the satisfaction of winning away from home.

Rae is currently assistant manager to Paul Ince at Reading, the former England midfielder hasn’t been linked with the Ibrox job but his Number 2 is never shy about offering his opinion when it comes to the club sitting second in the SPFL Premiership.

They’ll be very much looking for a bounce and I don’t think it is as big a gap. January 2 will be a big test for this group of players when they face Celtic at Ibrox. If they can reduce that to six points, then you never know I don’t think it is unsurmountable.

Before the derby match on January 2 both clubs have four fixtures with the next Ibrox boss facing away matches at Ross County and Aberdeen within four days in the week before Christmas.

Postecoglou will be taking nothing for granted with Celtic facing difficult away days at Aberdeen and Hibs before he can get round to planning who will be first footing at Ibrox.