Tonight Celtic will step onto the pitch against Zenit and we will be the underdogs. We would have been the underdogs even without our current injury crisis, but that crisis reminds us of what a season this has been. In terms of player fitness, it has been a dreadful one and no amount of blame casting is going to change that or help with it.
One media report yesterday suggested that we have, out, the better part of a team capable of securing the SPL crown. I want to take a look at that claim, because it seems clear to me that the team would, in fact, be strong favourites for the title.
It is a credit to our current squad that they have soldiered on in spite of this. If they win tonight it will be a triumph against obvious adversity, although the media will barely mention that. But an entire Celtic starting eleven will miss out here; that’s no joke. Whether there are training ground issues or whatever is an argument for another day.
Every one of these players would walk into any other team in the country, and tonight not one of them will be available to the Celtic manager. That is incredible.