Brian McClair: Celtic Should Not Dismiss Rangers And Aberdeen In Title Race

Celtic legend Brian McClair has warned Hoops fans that another league title is far from in the bag despite sitting top of the SPFL table.

Brendan Rodgers’ men lead the league on goal difference from Aberdeen, who have surprised many with their fantastic start to the campaign under Jimmy Thelin. 

Rangers are back in third, nine points behind, but McClair, who scored 126 goals in 204 games for the Parkhead side, believes that the Ibrox outfit can’t be written off just yet.

His former club are chasing what would be their fourth consecutive championship and 12th in 13 years, something he feels is far from a foregone conclusion.

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Speaking exclusively to Gambling.com he said: “It's far too early in the season to turn around and say that any team is going to be champions and the other teams are not going to be involved at all.”

Rangers managed to secure a hard-fought 1-0 home victory against Heart of Midlothian before the international break, keeping them in touching distance of the league leaders.

The Gers are looking to win their first title since 2020 but so far the Ibrox faithful have been left frustrated with pressure mounting on manager Philippe Clement.

However, McClair is refusing to rule them out of this season's title race and feels they still have plenty to offer, something which has been evident in some impressive Europa League performances this season.

"There seems to be two different sides to the Rangers team,” he said.

“They’ve had a wonderful time in Europe, some really good performances. So you can't write them off.

"But against Hearts everybody was expecting them to go on and win comfortably after scoring early, but for some reason they decided to sit back and allow their opponents to come back into the game.

"They could have ended up not getting the three points that the first 15 minutes of their performance probably suggested that they should have. 

“So it's difficult to really understand why they've been playing so well in Europe and the form in the league isn't as good as their European form. 

“But don't be fooled by the distance at the moment.”

Rangers' problems mean that perhaps Celtic’s biggest threat comes from Aberdeen with the two clubs come out of the third international break level at the top of the table on 31 points and unbeaten after 11 games.

Thelin’s side are away from home in their next three fixtures before they face Celtic in a midweek match at Pittodrie at the start of December.

It's been almost 40 years since Sir Alex Ferguson guided them to their last Scottish championship title and since then, Celtic have been crowned Scottish champions 21 times.

But the Dons showed genuine title credentials when they fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Celtic in a thrilling first league encounter in October and McClair believes they should not be overlooked.

"What's been refreshing so far is how well Aberdeen have done, and continue to be doing, sitting at the top of the Scottish Premiership on the same number of points as Celtic,” he said.

“They’ve already come from two goals down to draw at Celtic Park, and then beat Rangers at Pittodrie. 

“They will be feeling very confident. They continue to win and they're scoring lots of goals in those wins. 

“It's great to have another team fighting for the title, rather than just thinking that the league's going to be decided by Old Firm games."