Celtic have opened up a massive lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership over Rangers after securing a 3-0 victory against Dundee United this weekend.
While Rangers are currently playing their game in hand against Hearts at the time of writing, it’s still difficult to see how they can close the gap at the top of the table.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has been relentless in his pursuit of defending the title, and with the Hoops’ win over Dundee United, the Northern Irishman has now recorded 22 wins out of 26 games this season.
Before Rangers faced Hearts, Kris Boyd launched into a passionate critique of his former club, delivering some hard truths about Celtic to Ibrox boss Philippe Clement.
Kris Boyd rages about the gap between Celtic and Rangers
Boyd was discussing the possibility of Rangers sacking Clement following their Scottish Cup exit to Queen’s Park when he admitted that being 16 points behind Celtic at this stage of the season has “not been good enough.”
Boyd told Sky Sports: “When you listen to some of the people who spoke there regarding Patrick Stewart saying, you’ve got to take the emotion out of it, I think had Rangers acted last Sunday, Monday, then it would have been emotional.
“But that game is not just an isolated game. Rangers away from home has been terrible. There’s no getting away from it.
“You’re 16 points, albeit you have a game in hand, you’re 16 points behind Celtic right now having already beaten Celtic.
“You’ve lost the League Cup, you’re out of the Scottish Cup. Europe, I always thought that Europe was a bonus from the season before if you’ve done well.
“Your bread and butter is the league, or your domestic football, and it’s not been good enough.”
Kris Boyd admits ‘Celtic have got better’ as he drops the truth about Rangers’ transfer spend:
Boyd went further, dispelling the myth that Rangers haven’t had the financial resources to strengthen their squad and challenge Celtic for the title.
“You can go around the houses all you want,” continued Boyd. “Find excuses, players moving on and having to cut budgets.
“The only team that’s not been like that in the league has been Celtic. And Celtic have got better. But everybody else has lost players. Everybody else has had to build a new team. Everybody else has had to build a new squad.
“Philippe Clement has had money to spend and spent it. He brought in Behrami, not playing today. Again, that was a big summer signing. Oscar Cortes. Where is he? Where is he? Propper? Another one and a half, two million pounds spent. Not playing today.
“So, I mean you can go around the houses and make all the excuses you want, it’s not been good enough for Rangers for a period of time now.”
With just 12 games left in the season, Rangers’ chances of catching Celtic appear extremely slim.
While Brendan Rodgers will ensure complacency doesn’t creep into his Celtic side, even the Hoops boss would privately admit that Rangers will struggle to close the gap, especially given the quality he has at his disposal.
With just four weeks until Celtic’s next fixture against Rangers, if Rodgers secures another win, even he would find it hard to deny that the title race is effectively over.
