Old Firm, old folly

BBC Scotland football pundit Chick Young attempts to dish out a dose of reality for followers of the Old Firm, who get a little carried away every now and again.

It is no surprise whatsoever that not one Scottish football club has grey as its official colour.

There are no areas of that colour in the game. It is always black or white.

And especially so with the Old Firm where fans tend to be suicidal or totally out of touch with reality.

Celtic can be justifiably proud of what they achieved in Amsterdam, a dismantling of a seeded, quality European team in one of the most famous football theatres on the planet.

Regular followers of this column will be aware that, having seen Ajax play one week previous, I tipped the Scottish champions to do so.

But some people need to get a taxi to the real world.

Celtic were wonderful in Amsterdam

There is outrageous talk of Celtic being a good outside bet for the European Cup, a thought being hosed with cold water by Martin O'Neill himself. And no wonder.

The final at Hampden next May is a galaxy away and when the draw for the Champions' League is made in Monte Carlo next week Celtic will be introduced to some European football royalty.

To come out of the first phase group would be incredible, to emerge from the second and then progress through the quarters and semis would be the deification of Mr O'Neill.

Rangers meanwhile have their fans on an emotional rollercoaster.

The world had ended, it seemed, after the failure to beat the First Division champions at home followed by another goalless draw against Fenerbahce.

Suddenly though, hope is springing eternal after a spirited performance against Dunfermline.

The truth is, as ever, somewhere between the two.

Rangers could only draw with Fenerbahce

As it happens I don't think absolutely everything in the Parkhead garden is rosy.

The manager continues to spend in the transfer market but it has gone strangely quiet on talk of a training ground a la Murray Park.

To be fair to Rangers they have invested in something which should have been built decades ago and to do so they had to sacrifice around £12m which could have been spent on players who might have closed the gap on Celts.

Celtic stand accused of suffering from tunnel vision here. They have the smell of glory in their nostrils and they want more. And of course success on the park will raise the value of their shares thereby making the plc board a happy little bunch of chaps.

And yet surely during these days of wine and roses it is time to re-invest in the future?

Are these not the times when the club should actively be searching for land on which to build a state of the art complex for training and youth development?

Instead they are putting a few quid into a patch up job at Barrowfield, which is basically the tactic of those in charge in the biscuit tin days.

It is not the fault of the current board that there have been decades of inactivity on the training ground front, but they must succeed where their predecessors stood still.