Going into Sunday’s Old Firm Derby, it is safe to say that Rangers were being built up as the ‘favourites’ against Celtic by the media. But after a fantastic display, Neil Lennon’s side walked out of Ibrox with a 2-0 win and the manager took the opportunity to give the critics a piece of his mind.
As the dust settles on Celtic’s win over cross-city rivals Rangers away at Ibrox, it is hard not to wonder how foolishly the Scottish champions had been written off going into the game. They had not won away at Rangers’ home since the arrival of Steven Gerrard as their manager but a side that was looking to win its ninth consecutive League title in a row certainly deserved more respect from the media.
The feeling among the general public was also that Steven Gerrard’s side would walk out with the win at home after showing some impressive early season form as they were undefeated this season until Sunday. Chris Sutton, who is now a pundit at BT Sport, even claimed that Rangers were now title favourites after a busy summer transfer window.
According to Evening Times, the betting odds going into Sunday’s Old Firm Derby had Rangers down as favourites. Rangers were 6/4 with William Hill and Betfair while they had even shorter odds at 7/5 with Skybet, Bet365 and Paddy Power. A Celtic win, on the other hand, was seen as a gamble with odds as long as 2/1 with Bet365.
Thus, the victory on Sunday would have been even sweeter for Celtic manager, Neil Lennon, who has been constantly written off as the wrong man for the job despite winning 7 trophies in his 5 years as Celtic manager. And he took this opportunity to hit back at some of the critics. Speaking to Football Scotland after the match, Lennon said:
"“We were an afterthought coming into this fixture.“I was an afterthought, my board were an afterthought. It was all about the opposition and what they were going to do to us.“Everyone had written us off in the build-up. The bookies had Rangers as favourites and I asked why?“Even in Sky’s promo for the game, there was no picture of me, it was all about Steven [Gerrard]. I feel like (golfer) Brooks Koepka.“You have to ask Steven how it feels going in as favourites. We take it as a slight against us. We were very motivated, we were very hungry. You can’t listen to the noise around the game. You have to stick with what you believe in.“We didn’t listen to any of it, we stayed strong and played brilliantly.“It was a perfect performance. We were outstanding. We came here to win and be strong."
The manager even made it a point to speak about some of the players who had similar treatment from the media and impressed with their performances against Rangers:
"“In the first half we bossed it. Scott Brown was outstanding. He’s another one who’s been written off, by the way.“There were outstanding performances from Boli Bolingoli and Christopher Jullien and I’ve got a front four who are a handful for any team.“I thought we deserved to win the game by more. The second goal was the icing on the cake.“The personality, character and strength of the team was evident when everyone, including some of our own supporters, had written us off.“There are some amazing players for this club. I don’t want to wax too lyrical about them, but they did a top quality job.“We’ve always got a bit of purpose. You’re the ones, the so-called experts and pundits, who are giving your opinions.“You want us to fail because we have been so dominant, but we’re not prepared to give up our title just yet.“Neither are the players. And neither are the board.”"
Lennon’s frustrations certainly are not unfounded and it looks like being written off has lit a fire in his belly. We can only hope that the Hoops can let their success keep making all the noise on their way to a historic ninth Scottish League title in a row.