Celtic well below peak condition, Hibs and Best of the Rest title

With one week before Champions League qualification gets underway, Celtic play their third and final warm-up game against Swiss’ St Gallen tonight.  Three games is not sufficient to get players anywhere near peak fitness, but next week’s opponents, Sarajevo, have played only twice since their season ended in May, their final game, a defeat on Sunday.

While we may be well below peak condition, at least we should be better prepared than the other guys.

There is always some trepidation when an unknown helicopters in to buy a football club, but most Hibs fans will be happy that Rod Petrie has been emptied out of the club today as he and Sir Tom Farmer sold their shares to a Peruvian – surely the only man from Peru called Ronald Gordon.

Hibs were the last club to win a trophy before the Celtic monopoly began.  They are now debt free, have a suitable stadium and competent backroom team.  They are also not Hearts, so have a great deal going for them.

What is not clear is why a Peruvian has bought into Scottish football or what he intends to do with Hibernian.  Putting a challenge into Celtic will be difficult, but if he can work the South American market successfully, Hibs could be in the mix for the celebrated Best of the Rest title.  Which would be fun to watch.