Celtic could set up a title party and end the Ibrox season on 10 May.

Amid all the squealing from Ibrox and elsewhere, Celtic clearly got a modest advantage in the final round of fixtures. As long as we keep this in our own hands, we are in decent shape.

For me, the most important part of that fixture list is obvious. If results go our way in the opening two rounds, Celtic Park becomes the place where we knock the Ibrox club out of the title race altogether.

That is the central point here.

The third game, the one against them at home, could kill their season. If they drop points at Tynecastle first and then come to Celtic Park and lose, that may well be it. One defeat there could end their title challenge at a stroke. Hearts might still cling on mathematically in that scenario, but they would still have to come to Celtic Park on the final day and get something. The Ibrox club, though, would be finished.

That is why this matters so much.

The order of the fixtures has knocked everyone for a loop. I think most people expected the SPFL to try to force a Hearts-Ibrox final-day showdown into existence. The fact they have pulled back from that is revealing. It is revealing in ways they probably did not intend.

The potential for serious disorder at a Hearts-Ibrox title decider would have been obvious. Celtic supporters are far less inclined towards violent responses if things do not go our way, and when you read that Police Scotland had a hand in the shaping of these fixtures, it is not remotely surprising that this is where we have landed.

I’ll write more about that later, but it is amazing how much of what never gets said out loud is still understood well enough to influence outcomes like this.

If the Ibrox club drop points at both Tynecastle and Celtic Park, then the final day suddenly becomes a very different kind of drama. It may still be a title decider, but not the one they wanted. In that sense, the SPFL may actually have engineered a very good outcome, especially if what they wanted was a last-day spectacle with genuine jeopardy.

Of course, the SPFL rushed to explain itself. That is typical whenever a decision appears to favour Celtic. The scramble to push out an explanation, to pacify and mollify everyone else, is almost overwhelming. Not that it has done much good. In trying to explain it, they have made it sound as though all of this was predetermined, as though they wrote the justifications weeks ago and simply waited to deploy them.

That is what happens when you deal with the paranoid mindset. It twists anything.

The Ibrox club is right about one thing. Their sequence is brutal. Motherwell first, then Tynecastle away, then Celtic Park. If things go badly for them across those three matches, the title race may already have slipped away before the final weekend arrives.

That is why they are so angry. That is why they are making such a racket. Deep down, they can see the danger. This is not just about Celtic getting a decent run of fixtures. It is about Celtic getting the chance to end their rivals’ season with our own hands.

And if that chance is there, we have to take it.

None of this is being handed to us on a plate, of course. This still depends on Celtic doing the job. We still have to win our games. We still have to get ourselves into the right position before that third match even arrives. But if we do, then the road opens up.

Falkirk first arguably gives us the perfect start. Then comes Hibs away, which is awkward, but manageable. If we come through those two games the right way, then the Ibrox club arrives at Celtic Park with everything on the line and with the real possibility that we can finish them there and then.

That is the opportunity this fixture list may have given us.

I’m surprised more people are not talking about Hibs in the wider picture, because the conspiracy theorists should be having a field day with them.

The match against them at Easter Road may not be one they are especially desperate to win if they think it helps Hearts. Then again, they have to go to Ibrox later on too, and they may not be in much more of a mood to get a result in that one either. That, of course, assumes David Gray even cares who wins the title.

Still, the big picture has not changed.

This is exactly what we thought it would be: five huge games, and if we win them, we are probably champions. It really is that simple. Others can complain, spin conspiracy theories, and wrap themselves in self-pity before a ball has even been kicked. That is their business. If they want to lose their heads over the fixture list, let them.

What matters for us is simpler than that. We have it in our hands, and there is a real chance here that if we do our work early, Celtic Park becomes the place where the Ibrox title challenge ends. And if that is on offer, we should embrace it.

Because their final fixtures are too easy for comfort. If we are going to kill this off, then doing it ourselves, in our own stadium, before they can limp towards the line, would be the ideal way to do it. That is why this fixture list should excite Celtic supporters.

Not because it guarantees us anything. But because of its opportunities. It may hand us the chance to put them out of the race ourselves. It would then set it all up for us on the last day. And if we are even ten per cent better than we have been, I would fancy us to win it.

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