Celtic is history. Brendan Rodgers said so when he talked about the difference between our club and the likes of PSG. He was also dropping an oblique hint about our alleged Glasgow rival. Our club has that which money can’t buy.
That has never been more true than for the current team, who is re-writing history as they go. They may never scale the heights of the Lisbon Lions and win a European trophy – but watch this space; don’t ever rule that out – but every other record is going to fall in front of them and that’s why today is so important. That’s why it’s so special.
There is an all-round assumption that we will secure our seventh league title on the bounce during this campaign. It doesn’t seem like an unrealistic prospect, does it? After all, who’s going to stop us? Not the crumbling relic of a club across the city. Not Aberdeen, in spite of their growth and their potential. When people inside Celtic Park say the only thing that can stop us is us that’s music to my ears. It’s a sign that we won’t get complacent.
So that seventh title … you can surely take that to the bank.
Today the League Cup Final will give us a chance to put the first trophy of the season on the table. There’s already a place cleared for the SPL one. That would all but secure two out of three and we’re not even in December yet. Which other club can boast such an advantage? We’d go into the Scottish Cup overwhelming favourites.
And that sets us even more history.
No Celtic side has ever secured back-to-back trebles. Not Stein, not Martin O’Neill, not Strachan. None of them has ever done it. Brendan Rodgers’ side has laid waste to every record those guys set. He has this one in its sights.
We are not merely 90 minutes away from it, but we’re 90 minutes away from being halfway towards that goal; one down, the league looking very promising and the Scottish Cup about to kick off. We’re close. It’s the closest we’ve been, perhaps ever.
This occasion will have it all. There will be the steady drumbeat of history, over the poignancy of it being the Phil O’Donnell Final. The decision to make it about him was an exceptional one that speaks to that history and honours it.
We are a special club, and this is a special moment for us all.
The players are unbeaten in 64 games. Make it 65 and another record tumbles. Record breaking runs are like huge towering walls. They look fantastic, but they are built just like any other structure; one brick at a time. In some ways today we’re simply laying another brick.
But Neil Armstrong had it right when he said “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Some bricks are more significant than others.
And this is one of them.
Enjoy the day, enjoy the history and get ready because there’s a Hell of a lot more of it to make before this campaign is over.