The most dishonest of all the narratives being pushed at the moment in our game is that Celtic has somehow conspired to have the title handed to them, as if a 13-point lead meant nothing. Down in England, Liverpool are similarly well positioned to win the league but not one single commentator down there has said they are being gifted it.
I am not going to endlessly tolerate this garbage.
When UEFA green lights this all the talk of asterisks and everything else will be relegated to the bin where it belongs.
Paul Brennan said it best over on CQN though, when he told his readers and the Celtic Family as a whole to “own the asterisk” and tell people who asked in later years exactly what it meant.
Not just that magnificent points lead, but the greatest spell of domestic dominance ever enjoyed by a team in the history of the game here.
There are those who wonder “Will our ninth title ‘count’ towards the ten?”
To them I say this; of course it will. This carries the rubber stamp of the SPFL and the other clubs.
It is likely to come with the rubber stamp of UEFA and between ourselves and the Belgians I expect that this will be the model for every national association in Europe.
It is official. It is above board. It is a solid lead of 13 points after 30 matches with eight games voided by a once in a generation event.
Of course it counts. Of course it matters.
And of course it should be celebrated by every single one of us as any title would be.
I know this; I will commemorate this to the fullest extent possible with the lockdown in effect.
It will be a subdued party only in that it’s all circumstances will allow.
But this was earned and I will never hear a word that suggests otherwise.
Remember – and don’t let anyone else forget either – that this title has been won on merit.
Nowhere else in Europe would they even be debating whether or not a side with our lead would be worthy champions.
It isn’t really being debated in Scotland either; most reasonable people accept that we were well on course for this one.
The difference is, we’re dealing with people who are not in any way reasonable, people for whom the idea of reasoned debate is a non-starter. They are banging on their drums and rattling on their bars and ripping apart their padded walls and hoping that nobody will notice that what they are raving about doesn’t’ stand up to scrutiny.
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