RANGERS would this season be considered a “mid-table” team in the English Premier League while Celtic’s season would rank them “firmly” in the relegation positions, according to an expert study.
21st Club, a worldwide football software company and consultancy, ranks teams based on their overall quality, regardless of the league the play in.
Taking into consideration results in European competition and the success of former players to gauge their place in a ranking system.
The company’s findings were published in an interview with the Athletic, which focused on how Rangers and Celtic would fare if they had been dropped into the English Premiership this season without the extra TV revenue enjoyed by those who compete in the division.
Omar Chaudhuri, the chief intelligence officer at 21st Club explained the standings, he said: “For Scotland, you can tell Rangers are better than Celtic this year because of results domestically, and you aggregate the results and placings of the league table.”
Steven Gerrard’s Rangers have an excellent record in Europe, with consistent positive results in the Europa League.
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While Celtic also have big wins in the recent past, notably beating Lazio home and away in the Europa League last season, this term’s showing included two 4-1 defeats by Sparta Prague.
Neil Lennon’s side were also knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers by Ferencvaros.
“The Premier League is a step up in quality and you take into account results and the league table positions there too,” continued Chaudhuri.
"Then you factor in European results… Through this approach, you can get a general sense of where the team might sit.
“Rangers this season are pretty solidly mid-table Premier League level,” Chaudhuri added.
“So comparable with the likes of Wolves, Aston Villa, Everton, which is incredibly impressive given where they were five or six years ago, and within the context of them having a lot less money.
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“Celtic, with the season they’re having at the moment, are obviously not doing well. We’d rank them firmly in relegation, around the West Brom level. That’s Celtic’s lowest placing since we started doing these rankings about 10, 11 years ago. Celtic are usually around 14th or 15th, roughly that level.”
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