SCOTT BROWN insists Steven Gerrard and Co know Celtic deserve the title.
The 34-year-old Hoops skipper is poised to pick up his ninth successive crown when the SPFL eventually get around to making the inevitable decision.
Neil Lennon’s men were coasting to the 51st flag in the club’s history with a 13-point advantage at the top of the Premiership with only eight games to play. It was odds on the championship would remain in the east end of Glasgow before the game went into lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The struggling Ibrox outfit were left in the slipstream of their Glasgow neighbours after the midwinter break.
Brown led his team to 28 out of 30 available points, their only hiccup coming on the postage-stamp plastic pitch at Livingston in a 2-2 stalemate.
Across the city, there was carnage in Govan as Gerrard watched in horror as his so-called challengers tumbled to defeats against Hearts, Kilmarnock and Hamilton Accies while drawing with Aberdeen and St Johnstone. No-one wins awards with form like that. Another barren season beckoned when they were dispatched from the Scottish Cup by the rock-bottom Tynecastle side.
The Govan outfit are hoping for better fortune off the pitch by calling for an independent investigation into last month’s SPFL ballot that set the precedent to declare current league leaders as champions early.
Dundee United, Raith Rovers and Cove Rangers were handed the Championship, League One and League Two titles respectively while the Hoops await their turn.
Brown is adamant that everyone at Ibrox know Celtic should be awarded the championship after another impressive campaign that saw them edge closer to a phenomenal quadruple treble.
The influential middle-of-the-park operator, speaking to Radio Clyde 1, said: “I think 99 per cent of Scotland can see that we are flying.
“Even Rangers said in a few statements that their only chance of silverware was the Scottish Cup. Even they know deep down we deserve this.
“I just feel sorry for all our players and the backroom staff who have worked so hard, for people to be saying that we don’t deserve it.
“In my opinion, we totally do.”
