Yesterday was wonderful. Yesterday was catharsis for months of nonsense, since the Ibrox club went top of the table. We were all waiting for the day when we flipped this back in our favour.
We’ve blown one chance – against Hearts – and we should have pulled it off at Ibrox. None of that matters now. What matters is what we do next.
The slip ups so far will give our rivals hope. I am glad. Because I feel like we’re playing better than we have in a while and I suspect we will extinguish that hope one game at a time.
The road ahead of us is fairly straightforward; I know a lot of them are pinning their hopes on us slipping up away at Killie, but even if the Ibrox club wins in midweek, we can go four clear if we beat them at home and then anything that happens at Kilmarnock is a non-issue anyway as long as we do the job in the rest of the matches.
The Ibrox club has been living on its nerves for weeks. We’ve found our feet at precisely the right time and now only need to think one game at a time, win one game at a time, and there are only five of them left to go. And if we win this, we’re in one Hell of a good place.
So, what’s the likely order of battle? We’ll definitely have Hearts and the Ibrox club at home; that’s a done deal. But of the three other teams in the top six, we’ve already played all of them at home twice and thus get a freebie. It won’t be Kilmarnock. That’s a certainty.
It’ll either be St Mirren or Dundee. I have a feeling they’ll try to give us the two toughest away games; that would be St Mirren and Killie. But Dundee at home … that’s risky for them too.
Because if that’s the final game – no guarantee that it will be, by the way, but we should be confident of getting the final game on our own turf – and we only need to win that’s the one you’d most expect us to handle comfortably. So, they will sweat this but we shouldn’t.
The only thing that would infuriate fans is if we win at Ibrox and they send us to some ground on the second to last week where the allocation is miniscule; that would be our decider.
I would be appalled if our last match was away, but if it meant winning the title at Celtic Park the week before – which would be the scenario if we beat the Ibrox club – then you could probably live with it. I suspect it’d then that they’d send us to Rugby Park.
You know what? Let them mess with the fixture list to their hearts content.
Let them conjure up whatever scenario they want; we have this in our grip again and we’ve got the players who have been over the course.
Joe Hart summed up the mood last night when he said that “We don’t just rock up on a Saturday. We work really hard through the week to have a way of playing, and to have solutions when people do make it tough for us. So, we just need to rely on the hard work we have done all season and come good at the right time.”
Hard work. Coming good at the right time. Taking nothing for granted.
Those are the things that have gotten us here, to where this is now back in our hands again as we head into the home strait. It is tremendous to be top again on points and to know that even when Ibrox has gotten its game in hand over with that we will still be there … and so we’re now only waiting for the post-split fixtures to come out.
It hasn’t been an easy campaign, this one. But it’s now poised right where we’d want it to be. Don’t drop it now, Celtic. Do not let this slip through our fingers.
Killie away
Huns home
Diet huns home
St Mirren away
Dundee home
Will be our lot. Front load the games the higher ups think we may struggle in, hoping that we drop points and our game vs Dundee won’t matter. The above is the most “pro hun” schedule I can think of, so if it is as I’ve said we can be sure of the stitch up.
That’s exactly what I thought keep the games they think we will have issues with all together and attempt to sucker punch us . It will be interesting to see how they actually schedule them.
exactly the same fixtures I’ve guesstimated, same order as well. DYING for us to drop points v Killie ASAP
James
IF we win this title it will be the sweetest of them all…. and Brendan’s “see you here in May”., will be a wonderful day
@ jackson. No half.
I love big Joe. Let’s give him a proper send off. A League and Cup double and a magnum of hun tears.
Even before yesterday’s Dingwall ding dong I was confident that the League Title was ours for the taking and now we are most definitely the Champions in waiting. I am also assuredly certain that our management and players will approach the last 5 games with a steely focus to ensure that there will be no unexpected banana skins to contend with. It’s been a long season with it’s ups and downs, but we are now in a position to reap our rewards and march onwards to the Champions League proper once again. I am in a happy place just now, we all are, so let’s enjoy the remainder of the season.
COYBIG
Ah think the players know whits goin tae be required and let’s hope we can stay free of injuries as well. Tho the obviously hurtin DR, makin out Rio’s a cheat now. So typical of their tactics and it’s always ‘accordin’ tae some other source. Utterly ridiculous and completely false allegation. Where’s our board when this shite gets dredged out. Protect our players.
It is really nice Monday looking The League Table and seeing where Celtic sits today after yesterday’s unexpected result…
But it’s not The Euromillions Jackpot just yet and there’s a lot of hard work ahead –
And that’s before we even factor in the dark arts and skullduggery that will be coming down the pipe in the murky and shadowy world that is Scottish Football…
But yep – we are in a decent place today…
But we’ve been here before so we have – Black Sabbath for one – Then there was the season where McGregor saved Big Sami’s Penalty at Liebrox and we imploded at Inverness…
I can’t see them not winning at Dundee after yesterday but then I never ever imagined that we’d see yesterday’s events in a million years, that’s how crazy it is indeed…
But today – We’d all certainly rather be in our shoes than theirs – Definately !
Agree wholeheartedly with you James. We need to take it one game at a time and stop listening to the noise that will be flying around the media and Mordor. Steady ship time! HH
Joe Harts a legend
Had a feeling the huns would drop the ball yesterday, and that first half just convinced me, regardless that they were 1 goal up through a Ross County own goal. Said to the wife at half time, I think County will win this. Yes I could smell the fear coming from the Ibrokes dressing room at half time. They do it every year, don’t they? They think they can just roll up and collect the 3 pts. Sorry Rainjurz, that’s not how it works. They,ve tried everything to catch Celtic over the years. Big name signings, through EBT,s, numerous manager changes, new chairmen, new owners, you name it, they,ve tried it. But Tribute fc just haven’t figured out why they never win anything. And I think l know the answer. I think it’s their fans. Yes, that knuckle dragging, neanderthal, foaming at the mouth, angry with the world, peepul! At Ibrokes against Celtic, those so called fans, booed their team off the park because they were 2-0 down, instead of cheering them on and trying to get something out of them in the 2nd half. It’s always been the same. When the huns are having a bad day, the baying mob are screaming at them to do something. I,ve seen it on tv, and l,ve seen it on the terraces in the old “old firm” games before they died. Was going to to these games since the late 60s and the Ibrokes hoardes have always been hard on their team, when things haven’t been going smoothly, even with the “help” from referees. This puts tremendous pressure on their players psychologically, and when the season reaches the crunch, then they just can’t handle the pressure. They always think they’re going to win everything, and always end up winning nothing. Long may it continue.
When are the fixtures going to be written in stone ?
At least the BBC in Scawlin’ is doing its level best to cheer on it’s big pet project ! After the tribute act was pummeled into surrender by lowly Ross County yesterday , wee Jonners Sutherland heroically looked into the camera ,told the masses that the Rangers can still win the title ,if they win all their games ? All said and done keeping a straight face ! Billy of the Dodds on the other hand looked ruddy in the face , flustered and resigned to the fact his team had ballsed it up .As the rock star said circa 1977 …and it’s amazing !!!!
@ john copeland. Ahm just curious. Whit 77 rock star would that be. Dunno that one and bein intae my music it had me thinkin.
I watched Sportscene last night John and enjoyed the on field action just as much as the rest of us surely did…
But a couple of off the field things jumped out at me and once again it’s BBC Scotland protecting Sevco to the hilt…
So firstly – The Sevco Hun Hoards are giving it big licks that they are super ‘Rangers’ (that’s their word of course and certainly not mine for sure) and that no one likes them (that’s the only ever truthful thing to ever come out of Liebrox) and that they don’t care (oh bloody hell, the snowflakes most certainly do care and more)…
So we all know what comes next that they hate Celtic the Fenian bar stewards (once again their bigotry and no one else’s) and mysteriously or actually not for the reasons we all know the chant is suddenly edited to protect what could now constitute a potential hate crime…
For Fcuks sake Sportscene why give these rancid peepil more protection than the king that they profess that they love so much…
Then there was the Clement incident – we all know that he stormed up the tunnel in a petulant unsporting strop of the highest order and there was good old auntie BBC Scotland showing the biggest of after staged love in with The Ross County Manager…
Just what is the hold that 11 year and 261 days old has over the peepil at a public organisation like BBC Scotland amongst other media outlets as well…
What a warped, bent, corrupt and ugly football country that Scotland the country of ma birth has become these days sadly !
Two minutes to go and the Sky commentator said r4ngers hadn`t much time left but James,
the crawler, McFadden said they had plenty of time to claw it back. What kind of sh!tbags are these, so-called, Celtic minded people? Do they mean what they say or are they just total, crawling, sleazy cowards. The same with Packy Bonnar when a possible Celtic penalty was mentioned. Right away, it was NO. You would think that for the size of him even, he would have a backbone. It is about time they were taking a leaf out of McCoist, Miller, Boyd or
Rae`s books.
Yes, it’s been a tough watch at times this season. Kind of a testament to the manager and the players that we are where we are given some of the decisions against us this season. There hasn’t been a lot of consistency. Lets hope that changes in the remaining games, wherever they are HH