This Celtic team needed a breather. Today’s postponement will do no harm at all.

So, 3:00 PM on a Saturday afternoon. On a day when we should be at Celtic Park watching the match, most of us are sitting at home staring at four walls. I’m at home working away. It’s not where I’d want to be if we could be at Celtic Park, but we can’t be today. And, to be honest, I sort of knew last night that we wouldn’t be.

I’d read Celtic’s statement earlier in the day, but I had a million things to do, and it kind of went over my head. When I went back and read it properly last night, I realised the club was saying they hadn’t even had time to evaluate the damage caused by yesterday’s storm. So, I knew that if they hadn’t assessed it by the morning, they certainly wouldn’t be able to fix it by the afternoon. When I heard the game was off, I wasn’t the least bit surprised.

It’s frustrating because you always want to go and watch your team. At the same time, there’s an odd feeling that this postponement has come at the right time. If you’re going to get a game postponed, this was a good one. I know it complicates things in February, but the fact is this team has been going full throttle for so long now that a seven-day break between games won’t hurt anyone. In fact, it’ll be welcomed by the players.

When you consider how much the players have given—and they’ve given a lot—this should be seen as a welcome respite.

Even fans who had been looking forward to the match, including those who may have travelled great distances, should accept this as a necessary sacrifice for the benefit of the players and the manager.

These guys have given 100% over the last few months, and the proof is in the pudding. Champions League qualification is secured with a game to spare, the first domestic trophy of the campaign is in the bag, and we’ve got a league lead of 13 points. That tells you exactly how hard everyone at Celtic Park has worked.

They deserve a day off. They deserve a week to recuperate, relax, and refocus. They deserve to rest their tired legs.

I’ve no problem feeling happy for them, even if it’s disappointing for those of us who would have been at the game. We needed this break, and I’m glad we got it, especially since it hasn’t cost us anything in terms of our campaign. Most of the time, when you’re a club like Celtic, the only way you get a free week is by being knocked out of something.

Across the city, they’re whining about this, of course, as if there’s something we could have done about it.

Maybe they think that, along with controlling other clubs’ transfer policies and Kieran Tierney’s injury status, we also have a massive weather machine at Celtic Park. If we did, the US Department of Defence would probably pay billions for it.

Their paranoia is dialled up to 10 at the moment, and that’s exactly where we want it. Let them focus on imaginary phantoms and non-existent enemies instead of their internal issues. And they’ve got some very serious problems, as I’ve pointed out recently. Those problems might erupt on a brand-new front soon, which I’ll talk about later today—or maybe tomorrow.

This isn’t how any of us wanted to spend our Saturday afternoon. But with so many games coming thick and fast over the past few months, all of us should take this the same way the players and manager will—as a day off.

A day to sit back, chill, and not worry about how the team does. Instead, we can focus on whether Dundee United can get something tomorrow at Tannadice and send the Ibrox club back into another round of public self-flagellation.

No one is ever happy about a game being postponed. I’m not saying we should be. But we should take this one on the chin and think about the impact it’ll have on the team. They needed this. They are entitled to this, and I’m pleased for them, even if it’s a disappointment for the rest of us.

I honestly can’t remember a team playing so many games in such a short period of time. Someone read me the number yesterday, and I was floored. I had to triple-check it to make sure it was accurate. A day off will do them the world of good. A week between games will feel like a month for players who must be absolutely dead on their feet by now, and especially for guys like McGregor who play all of them.

Even with squad rotation, managing this workload is incredibly difficult. If it’s tough for us, it must be absolutely brutal for others. That’s what we should hope for. And for one other thing—no postponement tomorrow.

Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images

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