No one likes us, we don't care

 

Rangers have just beaten Livingston 3-0 in an extremely comfortable game at the Spaghettiad. A game we dominated from start to finish, albeit one or two shaky moments. A game where we were forced to play a centreback we brought in in January to get used to the club, with no real intentions of needing to play and one of our attacking midfielders at left-back. A game where we played our backup goalkeeper.

Yet we made the game look like a routine training game despite the pitch. That game took our season total to 99 points and means that after 37 games, with 1 more game to go to reach 100 points and an invincible league campaign. 

This morning Steven Gerrard was named the Scottish Football Writer's Manager of the year after guiding Rangers to the earliest league title in 119 years, when the season was much shorter, and after 4 manager of the month awards and an outstanding European campaign that raised Scottish football's co-efficient to 11th and means automatic qualification for the Scottish champions in the 2022-23 campaign.

Rangers have also dominated both the Scottish Football Writer's Player of the Year and PFA Player of the Year nominations with James Tavernier, Allan McGregor, and Steven Davis being nominated for both and Connor Goldson being nominated for the Scottish Writer's award and Ryan Kent for the PFA award.

The talk should be one of admiration. Of what a fantastic season Rangers have had. Of the amazing turnaround that Steven Gerrard has done for our club, taking us from losing to part-timers in Luxembourg and finishing 3rd in the league, some margin off the top, to competing with the best teams in Europe and running away with the league.

The press and Scottish football fans should be waxing lyrical about what a rock Goldson has been this season, about Tav's unbelievable goal haul from right-back, and about how much Ryan Kent's game has come on year by year, with him adding the numbers this year we knew he was capable of.

They should be talking about how inconceivable it is that 39-year-old Allan McGregor and 36-year-old Steven Davis have both been nominated for the two player of the year awards when really we would have expected to be talking about how their careers look to be coming to their conclusion.

Yet such is the nature of Scottish football the main topic of discussion from those not of the blue persuasion is that tonight we were awarded another penalty. It doesn't matter that once again it was a stonewall penalty of course, oh no, that wouldn't suit the narrative that this season has been a massive Masonic conspiracy to stop that lot from winning the 10.

It doesn't matter that they have basically been handed a free run at everything for 9 years. They still think the very people that handed them that free run are out to get them.

The talk is about how Callum Davidson should have won the Manager of the Year award because he might do a double with St Johnstone... 

Yeah, he might, but he hasn't yet, and you can't hand out awards for what people might do. Winning the League Cup for St Johnstone was fantastic for him. Reaching the Scottish Cup final as well is also fantastic. However, Steven Gerrard has won the league at the earliest point in a season in ONE HUNDRED AND NINETEEN YEARS and to date has yet to lose a league game in over a year.

Instead of the main topic of discussion being about those five Rangers players and the wonderful season they've had, instead, it's about how poor wee Broony was disrespected by a nasty man at Ibrox last week following Rangers 4-1 demolition of that mob.

That's right, the chocolate hard man who made a career out of laughing in the face of defeated opponents went crying to Keith Jackson about how disrespected he felt and how his feelings were hurt when an Ibrox official laughed at him. Something that David Edgar from Heart & Hand pointed out only happened as big bad Broony was mouthing off. You'll forgive me if I have no sympathy for him.

And the biggest talking point of all seems to be the ramping up of the condemnation of Rangers fans who are daring to gather to celebrate on trophy day. A day many of us were unsure of when it would arrive again. A day that we have waited for and need after a decade of toiling and a year of suffering.

Rangers fans were already blasted from all corners for gathering to celebrate on the day fifty-five was confirmed, and as I pointed out then there was no similar condemnation of the other lot and their multiple gatherings during this pandemic to either celebrate or riot. There was no condemnation of Liverpool fans gathering to celebrate their title win, of Arsenal fans gathering to celebrate their FA cup win, or even St Johnstone fans celebrating their League Cup win.

The independence marches organised by SNP supporters went by without so much as a peep from Nicola and her crew.

Since then, Partick Thistle fans have gathered to celebrate their promotion. Man City fans have gathered to celebrate their league win and reach the Champions League final, albeit in smaller numbers. We've seen gatherings from the AOUB group. 

Even today we saw gatherings to protest the Israeli bombings in Palestine go without comment. That lot gathered at sharkhead to pay their respects to broony, I wasn't even aware he'd passed, and nothing from the SNP.

Yet Humza Yousaf has taken to Twitter to urge Rangers fans not to gather on the 15th...

I've said before, these gatherings are not for me and I won't be attending, but I'm also not about to sit here and accept criticism of our fans for doing something that isn't even spoken about when it's others.

There's one reason, and one reason only, that the positives are ignored when it's Rangers and people look to highlight the negatives as much as they can. It's because no-one likes us, and like Graeme Souness said... we don't care.

They're jealous. Jealous of our rich history, of our success, and of our ability to overcome anything they throw in our way. Their pain and their hatred are what fuels us. We know we are the premier club in Scotland. We know we are the most successful club in the world and that that fact drives them mad.

They know they will never have a fanbase as loyal as ours. As the other club in city have fans still talking about refunds on their season tickets for this season and last ours are out renewing in the thousands. Thirty thousand had renewed so far at last update from the club with nearly a week still left to renew. That is fantastic.

They know they'll never be as respected in world football as us, with clubs from all around the globe sending us congratulations on our world record 55th title when we clinched the title in March, yes you read that right... March.

The fact of the matter is, they can hate us all they want, but we have shown this season we are well and truly back. This is our league and we're not planning on going anywhere any time soon.

The Rambling Ger

Twitter - @GerRambling

IG - TheRamblingGer