No fight, No class, No pride, No clue and No points

We've witnessed a few Celtic-Rangers games in our time, here at The Paranoid Tim. More than a few. And in that time we've seen the good, we've seen the bad, and, yeh, we remember Terry Hurlock too. Victories, defeats, draws; end to end rollercoasters with last minute winners, dull goalless borefests that should have been stopped after 15 minutes on health and safety grounds; Great refereeing performances, men in black who were out to win themselves a years worth of free booze from their local lodge; tactical genius, tactical suicide. We've seen it all in our time, and we've long since figured out that losing a game against the Dark Side from across the city shouldn't bring life to a shuddering halt. Paranoid Tim will wake up tomorrow, shake off any hangover, and go about life as normal. Today, however, we'll indulge in a little footballing commentary.

Looking back on a lifetime of supporting Celtic, today's result is a drop in the ocean. We were there during the dark days of the late 80's and early 90's when we watched Billy McNeil's sieve through the cracks in our fingers, always with spare underwear and a sense of footballing dread. We were there during Watties first glorious reign, where a succession of Celtic managers arrived with promises of better times and left with their tail between their legs - outmanouvered and outspent by the Dave & Walter show. Hell, we still remember vaguely that dark day when the Celtic fans had a whip round for Hugh Dallas' new double glazing and our club imploded spectacularly and embarrassingly in front of a watching nation. We remember a lot of bad days. Today was another bad day.

Let's get one thing clear, however. Today wasn't a bad day because we lost. Paranoid Tim's motto of footballing life is that you win some, you lose some. And as long as you win more than the other teams, you take home the shiny metal things when you run out of games to play. And as already chronicled, we've witnessed our share of defeats in the Glasgow derby and we're sure we'll witness a few more before we shuffle off to the great football stadium in the sky.

So no, today wasn't a bad day because we lost. Today was a bad day because we lost in such a spineless manner. Today was a bad day because we were tactically outclassed by a manager who only knows how to play the game one way. Today was a bad day because we made a poor Rangers team look like a great Rangers team. For those 3 reason, today was a bad day.

"Isn't any defeat to Rangers a bad day!", I hear some of you cry. Well yes. But there are bad days, and then there area BAD DAYS. No one is saying that we should be glad of losing to our rivals from the South Side. What we are saying, however, is that if we are going to lose to Rangers we should at least make them earn their victory - our players should be trudging wearily from the field knowing that they gave their all for the cause. That didn't happen today.

And If we are going to lose to Rangers then our manager should be able to look at himself in his specially lowered mirror and tell himself that his tactics and team selection were the right tactics and team selection for the game. Or that if they weren't then he tried everything he could to fix them. That didn't happen today.

And if we are going to lose to Rangers then I expect our players to have fought for 90 minutes, never giving up, never lying down, and never forgetting that there are hundreds of thousands of people around the world contributing hard earned money to their vastly overpaid existence as a professional footballer. That didn't happen today.

What did happen today was a pathetic, toothless, passionless and tactically inept display, the like of which hasn't been witnessed for a long time. From first kick to last Celtic were second best. From the first shrill blast of Mike McCurry's whistle, Gordon Strachan was outfoxed by Walter Smith. And for 90 infuriating minutes only one team showed the kind of commitment, passion, hunger and tactical nous to win three points. And as much as it pains me to say it, that team was Rangers.

So. Another bad day. Paranoid Tim will add it to the list. I'm sure there are many more still to come, just as there will be plenty of good days to help us forget the bad. But the hope is that it will be a long time before we encounter a display as pathetic and disgraceful as the one we witnessed today.

No fight, no class, no pride in the shirt, no clue and no points.

Roll on hangover.