Celtic has a real game on its hands next weekend. Hibs are Scotland’s other on form team.

A manager makes the worst possible start and seems in freefall. His team, at one stage, is rooted to the bottom of the league. He looks beaten, and they look bereft of ideas. But his board of directors doesn’t react to the mood music in the stands or the media calls for a head to roll. They resist. They stand by their man, and little by little, the steady improvement begins—not just in performances but in results.

That approach will never catch on in football, so credit to Hibs and their directors for doing exactly that with David Gray.

A guy who I thought was a dead man walking. A guy we all thought, at one point this season, was a dead man walking. Their board disagreed. Their board kept the faith. They stood by their man, and now they’re seeing the results—15 games unbeaten in the league and a second win over Hearts in the space of a few months. The first time they’ve got back-to-back wins over their rivals in a long time.

We know all about how difficult Hibs are to beat. We found that out to our cost. They are the other in-form side in this league.

They are playing exceptionally well, and they are coming to Celtic Park next weekend for the cup game. It’s going to be a tough one. It is going to be a very, very difficult match. The presumption a lot of people have—that we’re just going to sweep them aside—I don’t think it’ll be that easy. Don’t get me wrong, I expect us to win, but they are not a side that’s going to be easily pushed aside.

It’s fair to say I’m very much looking forward to the game. The two in-form teams. Their recent result against us and now their result against Hearts—they’re going to be buzzing. They’re going to believe they can come to Celtic Park and get something. And if we’re not at our absolute best, they might.

But what a contrast Hibs’ backing of their manager shows with the situation across the city, where they go through managers on an annual basis. None of them get time. None of them get the opportunity to see what they can do, to see if they can make players better. And, you know, I don’t think Beale was ever going to make anybody better. I don’t think Clement was ever going to make anybody better.

You could have made that argument for Van Bronckhorst—he might have gotten a tune out of certain players that others couldn’t—but their treatment of him was the shabbiest of all. The man got them to a European final and won a domestic trophy, only to be sacked because he couldn’t get results against Celtic.

There is no way that club would ever have done what Hibs did with Gray. No way. And it’s given them stability. Hibs have been through the wringer with all sorts of managers over the years, none of them particularly impressive.

They’ve made some wild managerial decisions, and I thought the decision to appoint a former player who had never managed a single game in his life was a disastrous one. But they stood by their man. They believed, and they kept believing, even when the results didn’t go their way.

And although I sometimes have my issues with their approach to games—particularly the games against us, where I thought they were very negative for a lot of the time, and where their, shall we say, aggressive behaviour, feigning injury, and time-wasting left a bad taste in the mouth—I’m always reminded of Alan Durban’s snarky comment about how it’s all about results. And that if you want entertainment, you should go and watch clowns.

In short, Hibs fans looking at that unbeaten run won’t care how it was done, and nor should they. This guy has dragged them up from the foot of the league, and now they’re in genuine contention for Europe. Aberdeen and Dundee United have a game in hand – they are playing it right now, against one another – and at the time of writing are on 41 points and 40 points respectively. Hibs are now on 43, and they sit in third place. It’s a remarkable turnaround.

And I’ll tell you what else—when you look at an Ibrox club that, after this many games, hasn’t yet crested the 60-point mark, it’s abundantly clear that if Hibs had started the season better or if Aberdeen hadn’t almost completely collapsed, they would be in even bigger trouble. That’s reality.

Both Hibs and Aberdeen have had major slumps this season, but both have emerged from them well. The battle for Europe is going to be increasingly difficult and tight as the season closes out. But right now, the two form teams in this country are Celtic and Hibs. And they are more than worthy adversaries for us next weekend as we try to take another step towards a treble.

Their fans are up for it. Our fans are up for it. Both teams are up for it. It’s gonna be a cracker.

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