Alan Hutton Says Not ONE Celtic Player Gets Into Rangers’ Team – Has Scottish Football Lost The Plot?

There is reacting to a couple of football results, and then there is completely losing all sense of perspective.

Alan Hutton appears to be wandering dangerously close to the latter.

The former Rangers defender has claimed that, based on current form, not one Celtic player would get into Derek McInnes’ Rangers starting XI.

Not one.

Speaking to FootballPredictions.com, Hutton said: “I would say no Celtic players get into the Rangers XI.”

That is some statement.

Especially when you look beyond the noise and examine something rather inconvenient: the facts.

Celtic are still top of the Premiership

Rangers have undoubtedly enjoyed an excellent spell.

They have beaten Celtic twice recently and deserve credit for those victories. Celtic, meanwhile, have been poor and Martin O’Neill has serious problems to address.

Nobody should pretend otherwise.

But apparently a handful of matches is now enough to erase everything else.

Here is the awkward bit for Hutton’s argument.

Celtic remain two points ABOVE Rangers in the Premiership.

The supposedly inferior Celtic team – containing apparently not one player capable of entering Rangers’ starting XI – is still sitting above Rangers in the competition that measures performances across an entire league season.

That doesn’t mean Celtic are playing well. They clearly aren’t.

It does, however, demonstrate why sweeping conclusions based on a tiny period of form are so questionable.

Five consecutive championships apparently count for nothing

There is another rather significant piece of context.

Celtic are the reigning Scottish champions.

Not only that, Celtic have won FIVE consecutive league titles.

The 2025/26 championship was Celtic’s fifth in succession and their 56th Scottish league championship overall.

Yet after Rangers produce an excellent run of results, we’re suddenly discussing whether Celtic possess even ONE footballer worthy of Derek McInnes’ team.

Seriously?

Callum McGregor? No.

Arne Engels? No.

Daizen Maeda? Apparently not.

Every single Celtic player is dismissed because Rangers have hit a strong patch of form.

That isn’t meaningful squad analysis. It is taking a snapshot and pretending it represents the entire film.

Hutton undermines his own argument

The most revealing part of Hutton’s comments actually comes immediately afterwards.

He acknowledges that if he had been asked the same question only a month earlier, his answer would have been “a lot different”.

And there it is.

If your assessment of two squads can completely reverse within a month, you aren’t really assessing which club possesses the better footballers.

You’re assessing which team happens to be playing better right now.

Those are completely different questions.

Hutton himself also acknowledges Celtic’s track record, saying they have “done it for a number of years”.

Exactly.

That is why perspective matters.

The September coronation is underway again

Hutton isn’t operating in isolation.

Scottish football has suddenly entered another period where every Celtic setback appears to produce enormous conclusions.

Hugh Keevins has already predicted Rangers will win the championship “in a canter”.

Meanwhile, Celtic remain top.

You couldn’t make it up.

Celtic supporters have heard variations of this routine countless times: Rangers win several matches, Celtic stumble and suddenly a new era is announced before autumn has properly begun.

Maybe Rangers will sustain their improvement. Maybe Celtic’s problems will deepen. There are still months of football ahead to answer those questions.

But championships aren’t handed out for September form.

Celtic have problems – but let’s deal in reality

None of this excuses Celtic.

The board deserves enormous scrutiny for allowing the squad to reach its present position, and recent performances simply haven’t been acceptable.

Rangers have closed the gap and Celtic need to respond.

But criticism of Celtic doesn’t require everyone to temporarily abandon reality.

Five consecutive championships haven’t disappeared.

The league table hasn’t disappeared.

Celtic’s players haven’t suddenly forgotten how to play football because of several poor performances.

And most importantly, Rangers are still looking UP at Celtic in the Premiership table.

Perhaps everybody should remember that before declaring an entire Celtic squad unworthy of a place in a team currently sitting below them.