CHARLIE NICHOLAS has claimed that Celtic winning the league last season was a more significant achievement than The Rangers reaching the Europa League final. [Football Scotland]
“Celtic winning the league title was a bigger achievement than Rangers reaching the Europa League final because just over a year ago, Celtic were in turmoil.”
Celtic was utterly written off at the start of the season. Challenging the league was unimaginable, never mind winning the competition. Compared to their city rivals, Celtic walked away with double the number of trophies this season. No one remembers second place in any competition.
The former Sky Sports pundit also believes that Celtic are streets ahead of their rivals heading into next summer, and to catch up to Ange Postecoglou’s side, Van Bronkhorst needs to make numerous signings this summer.
“Van Bronckhorst has done well as a new coach, and it’s okay saying the fundamentals are okay but Rangers were just in freefall at the time and Celtic started to overtake them in the Scottish Premiership.
“It stabilised it a little bit during the season, but Van Bronckhorst didn’t have a number nine. He wasn’t trying to play like Pep, Morelos was just injured, and no one else was available.
“Kemar Roofe, in all honesty, is not a brilliant number nine, but he does do a job for you. Van Bronckhorst stabilised the squad, got it together after a few injuries, and some movement in the transfer window.
“I thought he did a magnificent job taking them to a final in the Europa League and they will get stronger next season. He needs five or six players to make this a strong squad, challenging Celtic and in the Europa League.”
Celtic will seek to improve yet again this season, bringing in more players to strengthen the squad. It’s scary to imagine the position Celtic could be in when Ange has the luxury to rotate the team, something he was deprived of for much of last season.
Ultimately, Celtic bounced back like no one could imagine last season. Instead of admitting Celtic were the better side over the course of the season, some pundits and fans have pointed to The Rangers’ Europa League ‘success’ to paper over the cracks.
The reality is that the Ibrox side should have stormed this league, and Celtic should have struggled to finish second. But that didn’t happen.
