Let me paint a picture for you. Rangers beat Celtic at Ibrox today in the first Old Firm derby of the season. They go top of the Premiership table, two points clear of their rivals across the city.
They face Livingston at home in the quarter-finals of the League Cup – a competition Celtic are already out of. And they’ve got a Europa League campaign to look forward to, in a group that gives them a real chance of progressing to the knock-out stage.
Do you think if Michael Beale had been offered that scenario at the start of the season he’d have taken it? I reckon he’d have ripped your hand off.
Now, saying it is one thing. Doing it, and actually beating Celtic is another. Personally, I think they will. And if they do, that puts Rangers and Beale in a good place going into the international break.