Welcome to the Scottish Premiership preview with Grosvenor Sport ambassador Jamie O’Hara!
With Celtic the odds-on favourites for another title ahead of Saturday’s opening set of fixtures, can anyone challenge Brendan Rodgers’ side’s dominance this season?
Title Prediction
I can’t see anyone other than Celtic winning the Scottish Premiership again this season. Rangers will obviously try to come close, but they need to up their game.
Realistically, Celtic have the most money, they pay the biggest wages, and they are attracting the best players up there. Therefore, it’s very difficult to keep up with them. Rangers are giving it a go, but they need to be better.
Rangers are a massive club; they have fans all over the world, and the fans at Ibrox are incredible. If anything, I think the fans should expect more. When Steven Gerrard came in, they won the league, and ever since then, they have been very underwhelming.
There was a spell where Giovanni van Bronckhorst got the atmosphere going again, but overall, it’s not been good enough. For them, winning the league is where it is at. They have to play Celtic and they have to beat them, but every time I watch the Old Firm Derby, Rangers never get the result.
I fear Rangers are falling away from seriously challenging – Celtic are simply just too good and I think they’ll do the business again this season.
Celtic are 1/2 to win the Scottish Premiership with Grosvenor Sport
On Brendan Rodgers
Brendan Rodgers will always fancy himself in the Premier League, and rightfully so. He is a top manager. He’s at a top club in Celtic, he’ll most likely win the domestic trophies, but I feel what is really wanted for the club a decent run in the Champions League. The fact that Celtic are in the Champions League means they can attract a higher calibre of player, and in Brendan’s case, a manager.
I do however think that if a Premier League club, like a Wolves type of team, came calling, then we would potentially see Rodgers back in the English top flight. That’s no disrespect to Celtic—they are a bigger team than Wolves—but it is the Premier League. There’s no better league in the world.
On Kasper Schmeichel replacing Joe Hart
Joe Hart obviously wanted to retire, but to be honest with you, from what I saw of him, he didn’t need to! He still looked at the top of his game. But saying that, he’s had a great career, and he must have felt he had got to a stage where he was in a good place to leave the game.
Kasper Schmeichel is a really great signing. He’s great with his feet, and his distribution is amazing. He’s very good on the ball, so for me, that’s a really big signing. Fair play to them. Alright, he’s at the back end of his career, but he’s still a top keeper and certainly a person you want at your football club.
Where would Celtic and Rangers finish in the Premier League?
This is always a tough question because you would want each side to have a few seasons without relegation, get the money in, and then they can improve their squads.
It wouldn’t take both Celtic and Rangers long before they would be challenging the top five or six in the Premier League because they are huge football teams. I don’t like the comparison of the two leagues—it’s too different—but I do think that they would stay up then improve each year.
Jamie’s Scottish Premiership Top 3
I think the banker is that Celtic will win the league, and Rangers will finish in second place. I think it will be a usual season—you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to work this one out. After that, I’d probably lean towards Hearts. It’s the same old story up there. Rangers will challenge Celtic for a while, but Celtic have more money, better players, and Brendan Rodgers.