McInnes tries to put pressure on Celtic, but he’s the manager in a cold sweat.

Derek McInnes spoke in the aftermath of last night’s game, which I’ll write about in more detail later, and made some comments about Celtic and the club across the city. Those remarks have drawn heat and sparked controversy, with people asking what on earth he thought he was doing.

But when you step back and look at it, what he was doing is obvious. It wasn’t really about protecting his team.

McInnes is absolutely right about one thing. For Celtic not to win the league this season would be a disaster.

If the Ibrox club wins it, they go straight into the Champions League group stage and gain a major financial advantage for nothing. We would have handed them that edge because a board chose to pursue internal conflicts instead of backing the manager. There is no other word for that outcome but disaster.

If Hearts win the league, that’s even worse. Hearts should not finish ahead of Celtic given our resources and structural advantages. That outcome would be a seismic shock to the system and a disgrace for the Celtic board. Not one of them could reasonably argue they deserve to remain if that happened.

People will say Hearts would deserve it. They will say Hearts have done enough. But the likely reality is that whoever wins this title will do so with something in the mid-80s in points. That’s a poor season by Celtic standards.

For years, Celtic have targeted 90-plus points. A 90-point campaign wins this league comfortably. If we fail to reach that level, the fault lies with us and the problems inside our own club. No team should be winning this title with mid-80s points. If we can’t reach 90, that’s on Celtic. Nobody else.

Some will argue that McInnes was simply taking pressure off his players by saying they’re enjoying the moment. To an extent, that’s true. Managers often try to keep their squads relaxed. But there’s something else in those comments.

There’s an element of self-preservation.

At one stage this season, Hearts held a double-digit lead over the Ibrox club. Even early in the campaign, most observers agreed that the Ibrox side were not serious title contenders.

Some will say they’ve been impressive in clawing their way back. But teams don’t get back into title races because they’re brilliant. You can win every week and still get nowhere if the team above you keeps winning too.

The reason the Ibrox club are back in this race isn’t that they are brilliant; they aren’t. It’s because Hearts collapsed.

They dropped points, lost games and allowed the gap to shrink.

The same principle applies to Celtic. We’ve been as far back as eight points and are still in this. That isn’t because we’ve been outstanding. Everyone knows we haven’t. It’s because the teams around us haven’t been consistent either.

Other than the brief spell where Wilfried Nancy was inflicting his shocking brand of football on this club, we would most probably be top of the league.

If Celtic had held an eight-point lead this season, we wouldn’t have given it back. If we’d been ten points clear of the Ibrox club, that lead wouldn’t have disappeared. So, when McInnes talks the way he does, he’s protecting himself as much as his players.

Let’s put this bluntly. If Hearts fail to win the league from the position they were in, it’s a disaster for them. And it’s a personal disaster for him.

Tony Bloom can talk about ten-year plans and long-term foundations all he likes.

This is their moment. Their one real opportunity.

They might become the best of the rest in future. They might build something sustainable.

But this season, with both Celtic and the Ibrox club unstable, this is their shot.

From next year onwards, Hearts will likely face European group-stage football. That’s eight extra matches before you even consider domestic demands. Their squad will struggle with that workload, whatever data and analytics say.

Celtic will almost certainly never have a season like this again. The Ibrox club frequently go through a couple of managers a season, but even they won’t fall double digits behind Hearts again without something catastrophic happening.

McInnes will still receive praise for keeping Hearts in the race. The Scottish media love a fairytale story. Some would rather write one about Danny Rohl than Derek McInnes, but the point stands.

With the lead Hearts had, serious questions should be asked if they don’t finish the job.

They went out of both cups early. They allowed their advantage to disappear. And much of their early success came while Celtic and the club across the city were a mess. We’ve remained a mess, and our board is now facing the consequences. That reckoning is deserved.

But when you hold a lead like Hearts had, the responsibility sits with you. You must keep winning and adding points.

You cannot allow your rivals to get back into contention.

Now, as the season reaches its final phase, Hearts are wobbling. McInnes knows it.

We all know it.

Anyone who watched them recently can see the pressure starting to bite.

If they fail from here, then yes, it will be a disaster for Hearts, and for their manager, and no amount of spin from Derek McInnes will make that anything other than the truth.