Chris McLaughlin of the BBC thinks the club across the city could be “hot favourites” for the treble this year.
Remind me again how many major trophies they’ve won in their decade of existence? Oh that’s right; it’s one. In spite of ten years of vying for a domestic knock out cup they’ve managed to get into two finals and won neither of them.
Celtic and St Johnstone have dominated the last decade in the cup tournaments, yet McLaughlin seems to think that our so-called rivals can win both of them this time around.
No wonder even Pat Bonnar, who spends an inordinate amount of his own time sucking up to the club over there, dismissed the idea and said that Celtic were “not far away.”
What is McLaughlin playing at? Has his long absence from Ibrox finally started to hurt? He can’t have watched the Ibrox club this season and think they look like treble winners, can he? They couldn’t close that deal last season even with us collapsing.
And we look a damned sight better now than we did then.
On top of that, the insult to other clubs is profound. Hibs stand in their way of even making the League Cup Final, and they are no slouches this season under Ross. They are playing well and will pose a major threat. Writing them off – as McLaughlin does – is madness.
Ibrox’s own fan media are wrapped up in themselves, talking nonsense about “dominating Scottish football in second gear.” In case they’ve not noticed, this season has barely started and those patting themselves on the back could yet face a profound shock.
Mind you, when certain Celtic fans are calling the league season already (oh yes) and suggesting that we might have to settle for a single domestic cup you can see why our rivals are so uppity and why the BBC man might believe that our rivals only have to show up.
Honestly, I look forward to us shutting all these people up as this campaign goes on.
Of course McLaughlin has a right to an opinion. If he’s basing it on this and last season’s performances though, not since 2012, then there’s some credibility to it because look at their and our points total over this period of time. Look at the offside goals and penalties for and none against too. I like every Celtic supporters believe this to be wrong but its not just down to the other clubs, the institutions are behind them, the SFA, refs, media, etc. I don’t think they’re a good enough team for the treble but … if we want to be the ones to halt his opinion then we need to step up and I’m not convinced about that yet. I live in hope. HH