Like in the English Premier League, this season's Scottish Premiership title is going down to the wire with the usual protagonists, the Glasgow Old Firm of Celtic and Rangers, both well-positioned to claim the prize in 2023/24.
With Rangers leading Celtic by two points after 29 games at the time of writing, The Gers have a chance to extend their record of total title wins to 56, three clear of the defending champions, but the title race is too close to call at this stage.
Although the top football betting sites in the UK have Rangers as slight favourites in the odds at 4/7 compared to Celtic's 13/8, the margins are closer than they've been for many seasons. With Rangers hosting The Bhoys in the first week of April, with the two sides meeting again in the second phase before the season ends, the results of these two clashes will likely decide the league title.
As the league enters single figures for remaining fixtures, some ex-players and Old Firm managers have opinions on whether the Ibrox Stadium or Celtic Park trophy cabinets will need reshuffling at the season's end.
Shay Given, the 134-cap Republic of Ireland goalkeeper with nearly 500 combined appearances for Newcastle, Man City and Aston Villa, among others, started his footballing career as a member of Celtic's youth system. He believes that Celtic holds the edge over its Glasgow rivals due to the success of recent seasons. The Irish legend explained his views to the BBC's Football Focus:
“It’s exciting again from a neutral point of view; there’s a real title race because Celtic have been so strong over the last number of years. They have only played each other twice so far. It’s so close, and it’ll go down to the wire. I hope Brendan [Celtic manager Rodgers] can swing the deficit around, of course, but it’s an exciting title race north of the border.”
Graeme Souness and Neil Lennon are no strangers to Old Firm derbies, having played for and managed Rangers and Celtic, respectively. Scottish international Souness ended his distinguished playing career with The Gers before managing at Ibrox for five seasons between 1986 and 1991.
Lennon captained The Bhoys for several years after signing in 2000, spending seven seasons at Celtic Park. The Northern Irish international then managed his boyhood favourites 337 times in two stints between 2010 and 2021.
Appearing together on the 'It's All Kicking Off' podcast, the two Old Firm greats believe that the team displaying more mental strength will prevail in the 2023/24 title race. Souness pointed out that it's not necessarily the better side on the field that will win the title:
"What I found when I was here, we could be second in the league and [play] the best football, better than Celtic. But because we had lost an Old Firm game or had drawn a couple of games, all the focus and criticism was on us for being second, and the team that’s first sails off into the sunset, everything is fabulous … You have to be a big player to play for the Old Firm. You have to have big bollocks."
Lennon agreed with his fellow esteemed Old Firm ex-manager:
"It does come down to bottle, yes. I would love to be involved in it. I have been involved in many as a player and as a manager, and it is just brilliant … If people are writing them [Celtic] off, that’s a good thing for me. You use that as a fuel; you use that as a motivation."
Whatever happens between now and the end of the season, the experts agree that the title race is still too close to call. Individual loyalties aside, they are united in the belief that the Old Firm rivals will need to display self-belief and likely need a little good fortune to prevail come the end of an epic Scottish Premiership season.