In 1998, Rangers went four games too far, and Stuart McCall doesn’t want Clement and his team to make the same error again.
Stuart McCall thought Rangers were headed for ten straight after securing back-to-back victories over Celtic.
Back in April 1998, a Scottish Cup semi-final victory over the Hoops at a neutral Parkhead had given Walter Smith’s faltering team much-needed confidence. A week later, the Light Blues were truly having fun as Gers stormed back to the top of the league behind goals from Jonas Thern’s screaming solo and a magnificent solo strike from Jorg Albertz, which was a rip-off of the goal he’d scored against Wim Jansen’s team seven days previously.
That meant that Smith and his group were only four wins away from becoming the Ibrox immortals and from capping off a decade of domination. Four games was ultimately simply too far. After giving their all in those fierce battles against their enmity-filled Old Firm adversaries, the Gers let themselves to get complacent as the finish line approached—and it cost them their place in history.
Even though the club’s next match was a loss at Pittodrie, it was worse when Ally Mitchell stole a 90th-minute winner for Kilmarnock in the season’s penultimate match. This allowed Jansen’s team to capture the championship they had long desired on the last day of play.
Even after 26 years, the recollections of that excruciating collapse give McCall the chills. The legendary player for the Gers, nevertheless, believes that as they get ready to play Hibs again on Saturday, the current squad would be well to reflect on the agonizing lesson their team had to learn.
Before Nick Montgomery’s Leith team ever appears, all eyes in the Ibrox area will be focused on their matchup versus Celtic on April 7. Following the intermission, the derby rivals will square off in their fourth and final Premiership match.
However, McCall maintains that if Rangers don’t treat the remaining seven league games with the same seriousness as their encounters with Brendan Rodgers’ club, they run the chance of going through the same ordeal his team had.
There is still a whole lot of football to be played, and the manager will make sure that nobody is resting on their laurels. “You only have to go back to their last home game where they lost to Motherwell. That’s a reminder that while we’re in their fighting, there’s still a lot of work to be done to win this title,” the former midfield star told Record Sport.
It was disappointing to lose to Benfica at home, and it would have been interesting to see how they fared at Dundee. In unexpected situations, both teams have lost points, as evidenced by the Motherwell game. Of course, there are still two very important games to go.
It could boil down to those two massive head-to-head matches. However, I can’t help but remember the disappointment we had when we were unable to place in the top 10.
We appeared to have all the momentum after defeating Celtic twice in a week in both the league and the Scottish Cup, but we lost two of our next four league games against Kilmarnock and Aberdeen.
Ultimately, the title was unrelated to those Derby head-to-heads. Rangers should treat each of the next nine games as though it were the Old Firm, or as though it were the cup final.
“Rangers would undoubtedly be in a strong position if they won either of these two derbies, but that wouldn’t mean a thing if they lost to the other team.”
Due to the cancellation of their trip to Dens Park last week, Rangers ended their international break one point behind Celtic, even though they still had a game remaining. By defeating Hibs on Saturday, they can at least take back the top spot for a day or two. This will put further pressure on Rodgers’ club before they play bottom-dwellers Livi at the Tony Mac on Sunday.
In September, when his old team was seven points behind the championship pace under Michael Beale, McCall could not have imagined that the Old Firm match at Ibrox would, in one way or another, have a significant impact on the title conclusion.
It’s all out now that Philippe Clement is in charge. “The next Old Firm is on April 7th, but three months ago, I would not have thought twice about coming up to watch the game,” he stated. But I’ve already reserved my tickets! That just serves to highlight the turn of events, but I must stress that much effort remains to be done. Celtic won’t give it up, no doubt about it. However, it does add excitement.
McCall acknowledges that he is quite delighted with the new gaffer’s performance and that he recognizes similarities between him and the guy who brought him to Ibrox in 1991. Listen, it’s much too early to draw parallels between Philippe and Sir Walter.
However, I firmly believe that, similar to the Gaffer, he exudes a presence and aura on the touchline. He would later watch a lot of the games from the director’s box above, but you could always tell when he was coming down the stairs!
“While I don’t know Philippe, I enjoy the way he speaks and conducts himself in interviews. He is undoubtedly attentive and level-headed. From an external perspective, certain similarities may exist; however, we won’t be able to draw comparisons between the two until Philippe has achieved what the gaffer has. However, he’s doing a fantastic job right now.
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