Celtic’s incredible season concludes with the cup … and the kindness of strangers.

It’s doubtful that many Celtic supporters yesterday at Hampden gave much thought to Tennessee Williams.

But for me, especially at the start, the American playwright was on my mind.

Specifically, the famous final line of his most acclaimed work, ‘A streetcar named desire’ which reads: “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”

Despite playing lower league opposition, there was as big a demand for tickets as I can remember from Celtic fans.

So much so that, having failed to get one in the Celtic ballot, it looked as though the TV would be my only option to see the match.

However, in words of Del Boy, “He who dares” (copyright JG). I work on the rationale that it’s always better to try; never in my life have I gone to a Celtic game without a brief and failed to get in to the game.

But Saturday’s final seemed to be different. In the days of electronic tickets, it is much more difficult to pick up a spare. Now anyone with an extra can easily transfer it to a friend even if they’re not together.

So off I went to Hampden – and early. By 10.30am I was at the ground. To be honest, it was stupidly early. There were no supporters there – and certainly no tickets.

And that remained the case for the next four hours. The fan numbers increased, the chance of getting into the game did not.

By 14.30, it really seemed to have been a wasted effort. The only minor hope was people turning up late and not getting in, possibly due to having enjoyed the pre-match pub experience a bit too much.

There is an old police adage that solving crime isn’t about walking around a community, but sometimes staying still. Not so much “don’t just stand there, do something” as “don’t just do something, stand there.”

So, positioning myself outside the north stand, I again held aloft my hand with money showing.

Lots of people stopped me – but only because they thought I was selling. It was remarkable the number of people who didn’t know that there were no paper tickets, only the app.

Ten minutes remained until kick-off. Really, there was no hope of getting into the final.

And then another person waved me down. I began to explain that I was buying, not selling. But instead, he told me to give him my email address.

For some reason, he had a last-minute spare. Success! But then, maybe not.

With another example of the challenge posed by e-tickets, he couldn’t get a signal. But fortunately, this proved to be a short-term problem.

And then, most amazingly of all, this brilliant Celtic fan wouldn’t take any money, eventually only relenting to let me give his son some money.

It was the very definition of kindness. Or perhaps ‘khindness’ given that it was shown by a Celtic fan!

What happened really mirrored the story of Celtic’s season. Disappointment for long periods with no real prospect of a positive outcome. And then suddenly at the very end, it all came good.

For next season, hopefully Celtic might learn another lesson from this.

Standing outside Hampden for hours to try to get a ticket had been more in hope than expectation. But also about the reality that only by making an effort can you hope to succeed.

Domestically, Celtic have dominated in Scotland for years. But supporters want to see European progress too.

Some Celtic officials have publicly said there is no point, that the Bhoys cannot hope to compete with Europe’s elite. But never trying will always mean never succeeding.

Celtic need to show intent to progress. That fits with the managerial appointment and transfer business in the coming weeks.

If that happens, maybe the club can emulate one of Tennessee Williams’ lesser known short stories.

Because it would then be truly “Grand” (old team to play for)!

For now though, I will take the kindness shown by that Celtic fan, and what turned out to be another remarkable and memorable season.

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Matthew Marr is a Celtic historian who lives in Glasgow. He is the author of one book and runs the Celtic History Tours. He posts on X at @hailhailhistory