Whisper it, let’s have a home win at Ibrox tonight

On Saturday 8 September 1888, across the north of England, league football got underway. Since then leagues have spread to every corner of the globe where a remotely green patch of grass can survive. Thousands of national titles have been decided in that time, some, as we know to our cost, by the slenderest of margins.

The record winning margin, since 1888, across the globe, is shared by two teams, Paris St Germain and Cairo’s finest, Al Ahly, who both won their national titles by 31 points, PSG last year, Al Ahly in 2005.

Your team and mine are currently 30 points ahead of second placed Aberdeen with two games remaining. If we win away to Partick Thistle tomorrow, and against Hearts on Sunday, and Aberdeen drop fail to win both their remaining games, in Glasgow, against Newco tonight and Partick on Sunday, world football’s record books will be rewritten.

You don’t need the record books to tell you this is a special season, one you will remember fondly for the rest of your life, but in future, many the world over will learn about what Celtic achieved this season by reading their name either immediately below, or above, PSG and Al Ahly.

I remember the old days, when we hoped Aberdeen would drop points at Ibrox. Rangers were a basket case of a football club (nothing on today’s Ibrox incarnation, of course), while Aberdeen were one of the top clubs in Europe, and formidable competition for Celtic.

We can be more circumspect now with our sentiment, but – wait for it, I hope Brother Pedro gets a result tonight. He’s working on our place in history.

JOCK STEIN LISBON 1967 T-SHIRTS SELLING FAST! ORDER AT WWW.CQNBOOKSTORE.COM