Other Celtic Teams May Have Slipped This Weekend. This One Will Not.

Whatever is going on in the background, wherever other people’s minds are, however this is all shaky out with the manager, the team, at least, is focussed on winning the Scottish Cup and bringing home the treble for the fans. That is beyond doubt.

There is always talk during a spell of uncertainty about whether or not it will have an impact on the players and the team as a whole, and that’s not an ideal preparation at the best of times.

But when you are on the brink of an historic cup final it’s especially wearying to have to deal with this kind of arrant nonsense. And yet, I am less than concerned.

Listening to the players talk, this is not a team that is going to be derailed. These are not players who are going to allow all this to distract them from doing the job at hand. Other Celtic sides, I’ve not been so sure about.

With Lennon’s first team there was always the possibility of a loss of focus, or of taking the occasion too lightly; the League Cup Final of 2012 comes readily to mind, when we lost to Kilmarnock, one of a number of awful cup performances under him.

But this team won’t lose sight of what is important. They won’t underestimate the opposition.

They will not lose focus on the big day. Ange has drummed that into them, and you could hear it in their statements to the press, everyone from Alastair Johnston to Matt O’Riley today. This team is up for it, knows what the win would mean, and is ready.

A world record. A huge thing which I’m sure every player is aware of.

Another step closer to erasing the Lie, if not from existence then at least from relevance. A lot of people inside Celtic, including some of the guys who’ve been here a while, know the significance of that and the enormity of being able to call ourselves Scotland’s Most Successful Club without contradiction.

As much as anything else, this team craves success, it is addicted to it now the way a vampire needs blood. It thrives on success, draws its strength from success and it is building its own legend based on that success. That’s why we won’t slip up.

Winning cup finals is a question of mentality as much as anything; that’s why bigger teams sometimes lose them. They go in with the wrong mind set. That is not Celtic.

That’s not going to happen here. We are going to win this treble.