Celtic will play catch-up now. But the gap to Ibrox will increase if we do the job.

Thanks to our ignominious Champions League exit, we are going to have to get used to something pretty unsatisfactory for the rest of this year: playing our games on Sundays after the Ibrox club has played on Saturdays.

But I do not think that is quite as bad as it sounds. In fact, I suspect some of those Sundays are going to feel more like celebrations than football matches played under pressure. We are not trying to cling to a lead here. I expect us to grow it.

They won 1-0 today thanks to a shocking goalkeeping error. They have convinced themselves that the performance was brilliant, but some of our domestic displays so far have given a much better definition of what that word actually means.

I am hoping tonight is another one of them. What does not concern me in the slightest is the idea that playing after them automatically puts us under pressure.

It would be pressure if they looked like a barnstorming side which was comfortably putting teams away every week. Then you would know you could not slip up, because even a five-point lead can disappear quickly if the opposition is sufficiently good.

But they do not look good. They look shaky.

They look like a team which is going to drop points long before we do, and right now they are relying on a fair amount of luck. Luck does not last.

That is why it is always slightly terrifying when you see your own team getting by on it, because you know eventually it runs out.

If you watch us play and then watch them on consecutive days, or even on the same day, the difference is like watching a burger flipper prepare a meal and then watching a five-star chef do the same thing.

One side looks like it is simply trying to get through the day, existing from one fixture to the next and feeling relief when the final whistle goes. With Celtic, for all the madness and all the flaws, there has been a real degree of pleasure creeping back into watching us.

Linz, obviously, is the exception. None of us would ever want to watch that again as long as we live. We have definitely alternated between good and bad, but the good has been very good. The bad needs to be worked on.

As I wrote earlier today, if this really does come down to two competing football philosophies both getting equal time, or some attempt to blend them together, that is not going to work and it has to be cut out.

But we definitely have the players to play exciting football. And when we do it properly, we look like a very good side.

I expect us to win tonight, although St Mirren will not make it easy.

This is probably the pattern for the rest of the year now. They play. Then we play. I would not trade places with them for all the tea in China.

We are in Europe and they are not. We have the chance to make money, pick up coefficient points and restore some of the reputation which took such a battering in Austria. It will be next season before they can even attempt to do the same, and if we win this title they will be attempting it from the third-tier competition.

Even then, depending on the state they are in by that point, it may not be as straightforward as they imagine. Their coefficient position is also going to take a hit, and the consequences of this season will follow them for a while.

So yes, Sunday football while they play the day before is not ideal.

But it is what it is.

And there is a certain amount of having only ourselves to blame for it.

I will continue to be relentless in criticising this club for the things it gets wrong. I will continue to slate this board when they deserve it. I will continue to call out incompetence, poor planning and the cataclysmic mess they sometimes seem determined to stumble us into.

But as Paulina said in a very good piece the other day, there comes a point when we have to separate our anger at the people running the club from the players who are actually here wearing the shirt.

She was right. This is the team we have now. Those players did nothing wrong. They signed for a massive club. They are excited to be here. They wanted to be here. That matters. It counts. It is a net positive.

And we need to give them every bit of encouragement we can.

Because it does not matter what you have heard about them. It does not matter what the internet says about them. It does not matter what somebody thinks they should have cost or whether they were the name people wanted.

What matters is what they do next, in a Celtic shirt. That is all that matters. Tonight, I suspect some of them are going to get the chance to show us what they have, and some of the time, we are going to have to be patient.

We are going to have to act like supporters and give these guys time. I am excited to see some of them. I am especially excited to see Van den Berg. He has a very good pedigree. We may not have seen him run the race yet, but he comes from a very fancy stable, and from the footage I have watched of him he looks like a seriously exciting talent.

So, if he starts tonight, this is a big chance.

It is a big chance for whoever gets the nod.

And while I will never stop pounding away at this board of directors for the things they get wrong, at least the players on the pitch know they have the backing of the stands.

The schedule ahead is tough.

It is demanding. It is going to test the squad. Sunday games are not what we would choose, but sometimes that is just how the dominoes fall. And although it might look like an advantage for the Ibrox club to play first every week, it is also an enforced advantage because they were not good enough to stay in European competition.

That is worth remembering.

And as this campaign goes on, and especially over the next couple of seasons, the consequences of that may become much more important than who happened to play first on any given weekend. Tonight is about three points. Tonight is about St Mirren.

And, as Paulina pointed out, it is about getting behind the players who came to this club promising to give their all.

We have to give them the same in return. Here is to getting the points tonight.

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