Celtic continue to lead the Premiership title race by nine points, with 16 more league games left to be played. But one has to admit that the Rangers have improved since the arrival of Michael Beale as manager. Of course, their performances remain questionable and they have won only two games by a margin of more than one goal after the World Cup break. They are getting wins though.
Beale has come in and already stirred up some controversy, with some of his recent comments about Celtic and their transfers under the management of Ange Postecoglou.
The Hoops have already signed three players this month in the form of Alistair Johnston, Yuki Kobayashi and Tomoki Iwata, and are believed to be getting close to getting a deal over the line for Oh Hyeon-gyu as well.
On the other hand, Beale made some more comments which will not go down well with Celtic fans, comparing Postecoglou’s run at Parkhead with that of Steven Gerrard at Ibrox. As reported by Football Scotland, the Rangers manager said while speaking to BBC Scotland:
"“He’s a very good coach. I’ve known of him for a long time. Firstly he’s a very good man on a personal level as well. He’s done a fantastic job but in this country there are two coaches who are more lucky than the others. I’m one of them but certainly he is as well.“The spending power they have had is big. In the last 12 months they’ve probably spent more than Steven Gerrard did in three and a half years so I think that is a fact. It’s not a slight on the work he has done because you can spend money and get it wrong.”"
Beale makes another controversial Celtic claim
It is safe to say that what is not being taken into consideration when it comes to the signings that Celtic have made during the time of Postecoglou as manager, is the number and calibre of players who have headed in the opposite direction.
Scott Brown, Kris Ajer, Odsonne Edouard, Ryan Christie, Tom Rogic, Nir Bitton, Josip Juranovic and several others have left the club within the course of the last 18 months or so.
Celtic have pretty much been in transition during this period of time, with the squad undergoing a massive overhaul. And Postecoglou deserves to be applauded for how well he has handled the entire situation, and guided the Hoops back to the top when nobody really expected him to.