In Scotland there are usually two possible champions, sometimes even just one. But with nine titles in a row, both Celtic and Rangers were left standing – and what did the others care about that
“Only” three years and a good five months did Steven Gerrard coach Rangers in Glasgow, “only” one championship title came out of this engagement. But what a title. Three years and a good five months will far outlast the 2021 championship.
While Rangers had slipped into insolvency in 2012 and had to rebuild their sporting standing from the fourth tier, arch-rivals Celtic had won every Scottish championship since the 2011/12 season. Including the 2019/20 season, which was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic – the Hoops were top of the table at the time.
Not even Stein managed “ten in a row”
This made the 2020/21 season a very special one, both for the now 53-time champions Celtic and for the now 55-time champions Rangers (the sole record champions since 1931): The Catholic-influenced Celts managed to win ten league titles in a row. That had never been done before
1974/75 had already made the “Gers” sweat with fear when Celtic, under legendary European Cup coach Jock Stein, won nine league titles in a row for the first time. However, the dominators stumbled in their tenth year and finished third behind Rangers – Glasgow’s evangelical soccer power had stopped the ten-in-a-row.
What coach Jock Wallace had achieved 46 years earlier was also accomplished in 2021 – with an impressive 25-point lead – by Gerrard, who will forever have a place in the hearts of Gers fans. Although he was only in office for half as long as Wallace and even 31 years less than club icon Bill Struth (between 1920 and 1954)
Jansen became a legend in just one season
At their great rivals, by the way, the menacing number ten is not thought of any differently. There was fear in the Celtic ranks in 1997/98 when it was up to the Hoops to prevent Rangers from winning their tenth consecutive championship, which they only managed to do on the final matchday thanks to a magnificent solo goal from new signing Henrik Larsson.
The coach at the time was Dutchman Wim Jansen, runner-up as a player in 1974 and 1978 – and only in that one season. But when he died in January 2022, parts of the city felt that a club legend had passed away. Names with such weight are never forgotten in Glasgow
