Celtic’s Task Is Pretty Simple Today. Get Started On The Run That Wins Us The Title.

This morning there are some pretty ridiculous headlines branding Chris Sutton pathetic because he won’t concede the title, as if his doing so would magically wrap the trophy in blue and white ribbons and drop it right off at their door. You would never think that if we win today the gap at the top drops to a mere two points and a handful of goals, would you?

Everyone in the media and across the city thinks this is over. That Sutton is even having that asked of him with a dozen games left for us and so little in it seems vaguely absurd. If we had not conceded late to Kilmarnock, we’d be looking at going back top today. So, what, exactly, would the media be writing if we were? That the league was over?

Of course not. There are twists and turns yet to come here. We’re not out of this race by a damned sight. There will be points dropped on both sides of Glasgow before this campaign ends, and we have to play them twice having won the first two games.

What will take to win this? That’s easy. Twelve wins out of twelve, although eleven wins and a draw, provided the draw was against them, would get us across the finish line. I think it’s quite possibly with ten wins and two draws provided that we beat them at least once. But just to be on the safe side, the twelve wins on the bounce should be our target.

Are we capable of a run like that?

There are two ways to answer that question and both are valid.

The first is, do we look capable of it?

The answer to that is no, but I’ve seen us do tougher things than that to get across the line in a close league race and it’s not impossible to do.

If you’re asking me if we are capable of it, that’s the second answer right there.

Because of course, yes.

We have the players who are capable of it and we have the guy who I still say is the best manager in this country and to prove me wrong someone’s going to have to show me the comparable record to his, at any other club?

We know we can still do this.

We know we have the talent in this squad for it.

But morale is low and, with some justification, we feel like we’ve let it slip through our own fingers. For all that, we can’t think fearfully about this.

That kind of fatalism practically hands them it on a silver platter.

Because if we win today we’re down to eleven matches and just two points in it.

That’s the truth of it. This race wouldn’t be over if we were the ones with the two-point lead and there is not a single outlet in this country which would be acting like it was.

So this is it guys. Win today and then into midweek.

I remember Gordon Strachan talking about this stuff once upon a time and his comments were very simple; when you’re chasing you don’t look at the past or at the future but at the next step on the road in front of you. Win one. Then move onto the next one.

Sounds simple, right?

Well we’ve made it harder than it needed to be this season, but in the end that’s how it’s done, like putting one foot in front of the other, and they say that a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. Winning this title starts with a single win … today’s.

Let’s get that in the bag and then move on to Wednesday.

One step at a time.

One game at a time.

One win at a time.

It doesn’t have to be fancy or clinical or brilliant … but you know, one big win would really get the heads up again, so that’s what I’ll be hoping for.

See you all on the other side of it.