Scott Brown is the first person at Celtic to publicly comment on the possibility that the season will end early. And he has said what everyone at Celtic knows, what UEFA will probably mandate on Tuesday and what so many are in denial about.
If the season ends prematurely, we will be champions. There is no argument that can be sustainably made for any other outcome. He is correct to call it as an “as you were” situation. Enough games have been played that it is entirely right.
You know, I’ve read some spurious nonsense from the Ibrox fan forums about “past precedents.” The one they happen to love most is the 1939-40 campaign, where the season was cancelled after five games, with their team at the top of the league. This is a ludicrous argument; no winner could legitimately have been chosen after such a short number of matches. It was a 38 game campaign, like this one. We have played 30 matches in this one.
On top of that, instead of the league season simply being abandoned completely what actually happened was that the SFA reorganised the leagues and played unofficial tournaments in their place. Wartime records do not count because large numbers of players were unavailable to clubs due to actually fighting in the war.
Some clubs, of course, had cushy deals with the “essential industries” such as local shipyards etc, which “employed” their players on dual contracts so that they didn’t have to go off to the fighting. Not our club, though.
The wartime argument is ridiculous nonsense as I’m sure those making it know full well. There never was a Scotland wide league competition during the war years; let them claim those titles as they wish, along with all the other ones belonging to the dead club. They can put them with their lower league ones, cause that’s where they ultimately belong.
Here, in the real world, we actually have a thirteen-point lead with eight games to go, and a vastly superior goal difference. We’d need to lose half of our remaining fixtures … twice as many games as we have this season already, in the next six or so weeks.
And bear in mind, this will be not actually be a cancellation but a mandated early finish. Whose mandate? UEFA’s most likely.
Brown was asked an obvious question today. He gave the only obvious answer, the only logical answer, the only correct answer. We are going to be champions, whatever the howling masses of Sevconia want to say or do about it, and you know something? There’s absolutely nothing that they can do. They can claim “tainted title” as they wish and demand statements and boycotts and all the rest of the usual pish … but it’s all toothless.
I will celebrate nine like I said I would; with the biggest party of my life (under 500 people in case any government ministers are reading haha) and I will enjoy the triumph arguably more than any of the others that came before it.
Until the next one. Which not even coronavirus will prevent.