ADMITTEDLY, it is not an exact science, dear reader, but I have regularly utilised a fairly uncomplicated rule of thumb for what is required to win a title.
At the season’s kick-off, naturally enough, all that is needed is for the aspiring champions to complete the league programme with more points – or a superior goal difference – than any of their competitors to be awarded the silverware.
However, at unexpected stages of the crusade the gremlins might get to work to guide you into quicksand. Look at last December, for instance, when Brendan Rodgers’ side dropped six points in back-to-back outings against Kilmarnock and Hearts.
In February, four points were lost in stalemates against Aberdeen and the meddlesome Rugby Park outfit. Three games later, Celtic stumbled in the most controversial of circumstances at Tynecastle to shed three more points.
THUMB’S UP…Brendan Rodgers acknowledges the Celtic fans after the 4-1 triumph at Tynecastle.
These banana skin moments offered hope and energy to their nearest challengers from Ibrox after Philippe Clement had apparently added oomph and expertise to their endeavours following the trapdoor finally buckling under the strain of Michael Beale in October.
The League Cup had been won after a 1-0 victory in a truly turgid, so-called showpiece against a Dons team destined to fail to make the top six cut.
For me, the turning point in the pursuit of Celtic’s 54th crown came at Ibrox on April 7 when the visitors simply could not afford to lose. Two goals to the good at the turnaround, courtesy of a lightning strike from Daizen Maeda and a cheeky penalty-kick from Matt O’Riley, everything appeared to be going the way of Brendan’s side.
Some careless defending and a dodgy penalty-kick threw the hosts a lifeline before Adam Idah rifled in a third. The clock was ticking during the eight minutes of stoppage-time when Rabbi Matondo was allowed the freedom of Govan to whip in the equaliser.
Ibrox, without a rival supporter in sight, was a bedlam of bon homie as Clement took his players on a lap of honour.
It was to be their final parade of the journey. Maybe it will prove to be their final hurrah for some considerable time. At that stage, with six league matches to play, the champions were a point ahead while the Govan club held a game in hand.
Nerve-ends were stretched at the beckoning of the pivotal stage of the season, the critical period of the crusade that separates the winners from the also-rans.
JUST CHAMPION…retiring keeper Joe Hart and captain Callum McGregor lead the celebrations following Celtic’s 5-0 win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park that sealed title No.54 on May 15.
Celtic, totally focused, won all of their remaining fixtures while the burden of expectation proved too severe for Phil’s wannabes and they limped in nine points off the pace.
When the chips were down, Rodgers and Co dealt with the strain, accepted their accountability, embraced their obligations with the sort of fervour you associate with serial high achievers and marched triumphantly towards the winners’ rostrum.
At no stage was the task outwith Celtic’s capabilities. The two confrontations against Rangers in the run-in were of paramount importance and they did not falter, drawing one and winning the other.
That’s what makes champions.
And that takes us to today – or “at this moment in time” as the media pundits repeat with a fair degree of monotony as they stubbornly ignore the word “now”.
After only 12 league matches, Clement’s side are no longer in charge of their own destiny. They are 11 points behind Celtic after drawing against Dundee United at a stadium where the rampant ecstasy of April was a distant memory.
Rangers have three games to play against the Parkhead club. They will have home advantage in two of the outings with a sell-out crowd backing them all the way while there will not be a murmur of support for the visitors.
I acknowledge this is a highly unlikely sequence, but in the event of nine points being transferred across the city, Big Phil and his players will still be two points adrift of Celtic.
That being the case – improbable, I realise – then they will require favours from other teams to aid them in their stratospherically difficult mission to get their hands on the big prize.
You and I know that is already out of the question. Rangers will not get within touching distance of Celtic for the remainder of the season.
Prepare yourself for six months of Big Phil being pilloried. The gloom and doom merchants will go into disaster overload.
TOUCHLINE TREMORS…Brendan Rodgers and Philippe Clement in competition at Hampden as Celtic win the Scottish Cup on the iconic date of May 25.
Unless the club receive an unanticipated financial donation from some wealthy punter who can’t stand it any more, they are stuck with the Belgian.
Quite simply, they cannot afford to hand a P45 to the manager who signed a contract extension in the summer that could keep him in situ until June 2028.
Please remember, too, they would have to find surplus cash for at least three other backroom staff introduced since the sacked Monaco head coach’s arrival 13 months ago. If Big Phil is dismissed, there is every likelihood they would be obliged to join the exodus.
All of this, of course, should be an irrelevance to the club across the Clyde.
As Wee Super Ally ascertained so eloquently to his talkSPORT audience earlier today: “They ain’t catching Celtic this season sadly and it breaks my heart to say that.”
Getting level with Aberdeen, eight points ahead, is still within their grasp, though, in the race to be runners-up.
ALEX GORDON
