I met Ange and there was no Rangers trauma and Celtic boss is unconcerned over prophecies of doom – Hugh Keevins

Jumping to conclusions is an Olympic event in Scottish football.

On one hand we have a notoriously low tolerance threshold. One game is all it takes to change minds, harden attitudes and shorten tempers. Good becomes bad overnight. If, on the other hand, you’re the winner of that one game, memory banks are closed where the recent past is concerned. For example, Celtic fans revelled in beating Rangers in two cup ties and a league match since the start of 2023 despite not playing particularly well.

But when they didn’t play well and lost to Rangers at Ibrox last weekend, what was once a virtue then became a vice. Celtic’s strength in depth has now been called into question by their own supporters. This might be thought a premature criticism of a team who are one game away from a world record-breaking Treble and with the recently crowned Player and Manager of the Year on their side.

It would be the ultimate condemnation of Celtic’s relatively lifeless performance at Ibrox if anyone could provide a shred of evidence to support the idea of Inverness Caley

Thistle now being capable of beating Ange Postecoglou’s side in the Scottish Cup Final. That would surely be a test of anyone’s credulity.

Yuki Kobayashi might have been outmuscled and looked terrorised by stronger minds and bodies at Ibrox. But if the same thing happened to him against players from a side who finished in the bottom half of the Championship then Postecoglou really would have a problem on his hands.

I met Ange at the PFA Scotland dinner last Sunday and he didn’t look traumatised by the events 24 hours earlier. The loss to Rangers was only his fifth league defeat in two seasons.

Prophecies of doom are, on that basis, not the reason why club owner Dermot