How do you demonstrate utter dominance best? Win by three, four or five goals or simply fail to show up for the first third of a game, go a goal behind and still come back to win, comfortably, and wonder why you didn’t win by more?
What’s the answer? Who cares? The answer is in the premise of the question; how do you best demonstrate utter dominance? Cause utter dominance is what it says on the tin, and after you’ve demonstrated it nobody really cares how it was done.
That was 2-1 going on 6 or 7. At Ibrox. Where they believe they are the best team that ever kicked a ball. Aye, right. We gave them not only a goal of a start but 30 minutes to go with it and when we decided to show up we owned them. Absolutely owned them.
Celtic dominated today. Not from start to finish, but when it counted. We came back from a goal down at the indomitable Ibrox … and we ruled.
Remember that line from Die Hard? “And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer ….”
Benefits of a classical education, or just a half decent West of Scotland one?
Let’s try one in physics.
If you believe in some of the latest physics theories, somewhere there is a parallel universe where Celtic played against Rangers today. My bet would be on us winning that game by the odd goal. Then there is this particular universe, the one we’re living in, where fact and fiction have merged in an odd blend of the two, where some of us recognise the difference between the two and where others don’t acknowledge it at all.
And then there’s the Other World, which will look a lot like this one except that people have accepted and acknowledged and speak the truth about what happened in 2012 and where according to even Sky Sports Scotland we played Sevco this afternoon.
Not that it matters. We’d have beat them in all of them, and in any number of other parallel worlds at the same time. Only in that which we would call “reality” would it be sweeter than it is now, in this hybrid version of it. The verdict is in; we’ve won at Celtic Park, Ibrox and Hampden. In little over four months. This is incredible, in every parallel world.
2016 was the Celtic gave itself a mighty shake. From a coma. Since 2012 we had been waiting for this board to realise the historical opportunity that was right there in front of us, and we lamented that it had not been done. When Ronny announced he was leaving some of us sensed that this was it, the last chance we would get to rise above the general hum-drum of this league and use the moment to push forward.
And we took it. And how. Brendan was appointed. We haven’t looked back.
2016 was a wonderful year to be a Celtic fan. Even the dreadful defeat in the League Cup semi-final turned out to be a blessing in disguise; we suffered one single short, sharp shock and from that day we rebuilt our whole club. I said at the time that I thought it might be The Storm Before The Calm, and predicted that Sevco would come to regret that day.
I quoted the Japanese naval commander Yamamoto; “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
It proved scarily prophetic, for which I’ll forever be glad!
2017 can be more than this.
It can be the year our club develops that greater purpose towards which it has gone many times but never reached; it can be Scottish football’s “shining city on the hill”. As the last surviving superpower in the game here we can take the decision to leave this sport far behind in pursuit of our ambitions or lend it what support and encouragement we can in making it better. I think we’re more than a football club; next year we can prove it to everyone who doesn’t already get it, or who may not understand it.
We can help reform Scottish football, as its leader and greatest club.
Or we can let it fall down into ruin, and suffer along with it.
For tonight I don’t want to labour the point. I enjoyed today, and I’ve enjoyed the better part of this year and spending with you tremendous people. Thank you for being such a big part of 2016 for me, and I hope that you have a Happy New Year.
Back tomorrow, with a review of the year just past and thoughts for the future.
Hail Hail brothers and sisters and comrades and friends.