Showing his trademark selection of words Chris Sutton believes that Celtic are the benchmark for Scottish football.
Martin O’Neill repeatedly used that phrase when he took charge of Celtic 24 years ago, not for his own side but for Dick Advocaat’s side across the city who had taken five of the six trophies up for grabs before the arrival of O’Neill at Celtic.
The Irishman used it as a deflection tactic, won the treble in his first season while reshaping the Scottish game with Celtic the dominant force this century.
Phil Clement is tasked with changing that with serious questions raised about his capability following the 3-0 Derby defeat to Celtic a fortnight ago.
Today’s 1-0 win away to Dundee United steadies the ship slightly but with a five point gap in place Sutton has used the B word to emphasise the scale of the task facing the Belgian.
Covering today’s action from Tannadice BBC Scotland report:
Sutton believes Rangers have until Celtic visit on 2 January to prove they have narrowed the gap.
“They are behind them at this moment in time,” he said on Sky Sports. “This year, it looks as if Rangers have went the other way and Celtic have improved.
“Rangers will finish second and finish second comfortably, but at the end of the day, the benchmark is Celtic.”
After one fixture back following the international break the SPFL pauses again next weekend for the quarter-final ties in the League Cup.
Celtic are back in action on September 28 away to St Johnstone looking for win number six of the season to stretch the gap to eight points over their city rivals who host Hibs the following day.
The Dundee United result today, defines Scottish football and why Sevco will be second and the rest miles behind. The only comment I heard during the match is that United were happy to let Sevco have the ball. These are the matches the smaller teams have to win. Aberdeen will begin to falter when the pressure is on soon.
Jim Goodwin just sent out an Invitation Card to sevco to come and pump them any time they liked!