Barry Ferguson, a former midfielder with Rangers, had to accept humility for writing Celtic off in the championship game. Ferguson had boldly predicted less than two weeks ago that Celtic would be five points behind Rangers in the championship battle by now. However, the truth is very different, with Celtic supporters today possessing a greater sense of confidence than Ferguson did.
The series of events that disproved Ferguson’s prediction started at Ibrox, where Rangers and Celtic played to an exciting 3-3 draw. Three straight victories were needed to give Rangers a lead over Celtic, but things fell apart fast. After the tie, Rangers unexpectedly lost 3-2 at Ross County, and then faced further heartbreak as they were locked in a scoreless draw at home against Dundee.
Ferguson was forthright in his admittance as he considered his miscalculated forecast. “No one likes to acknowledge when they are mistaken. Thus, what I’m going to write won’t be simple,” he said to RecordSport. “But a few weeks ago, I didn’t just make a mistake in this column; I disregarded all of my intuition and threw caution to the wind when I predicted that Rangers would lead the table by five points heading into the post-split fixtures and win the championship.”
Now, the roles have reversed, with Celtic leading the title race by three points and not just catching up but also pulling ahead.
Ferguson’s error illustrates not just the unpredictable nature of the championship battle but also the attitude of a Rangers supporter who has spent the majority of their 20 years as the team’s second-best player. To be honest, if I were in their shoes, I wouldn’t be making any big predictions and would instead wait to speak until everything appeared to be finished. It’s true that before Celtic traveled to Ibrox, they were speculating about how many goals they would win by instead of if they would win. With Celtic fully in control, they are currently scurrying around and figuring out the combinations necessary to win the championship.
