Tom Rogic signing on is a huge vote of confidence for Celtic ahead of the Scottish Cup Final

There is no better time to deliver good news for the club and the fans

I had been pondering writing a blog in anticipation of Tom Rogic joining an English Premier League team.

Roughly, the outline was this: we we could prosper without him (because we could), we have a lot of attacking talent (which we have) but that my strong preference would be for him to stay because he has qualities that are bettered by very few in the game (and he has).

But, at 25, just coming into what should be his football peak, I could have understood if he had decided to choose an English club that would have paid him gushingly for his undoubted skills.

It seemed a subject best not discussed before a cup final - nobody really wants to talk about the hero of the last one leaving a few days before one of the biggest matches in our history.

But it's testament to the work being done at Celtic, especially the faith that the players have in the innumerable qualities of Brendan Rodgers and his staff, that players like Tom wish to sign up for the next stage of the journey.

Tom somehow finds space in the most crowded area of the pitch when the opposition midfielders are blocking and tackling in support of their defence.

In fact, perhaps it's more accurate to say that he creates time, as his close control is such that he needs very little physical space in which to create an attacking channel.

He has "quick feet" along with the light touch in both left and right that allows him to go in any direction and he has the balance and upper body strength to keep possession under intense pressure.

If the defenders try to track him, he runs along the 18-yard box until he finds a gap as markers and zones change. Challenges on him at that pace have to be perfect so as not to create a fatal gap for him to run into - usually a goal - or thread through a pass.

It must be the stuff of nightmares for a defender, especially in a high-pressure match where one screw-up is often disastrous as well as highly public.

Tom's is the sort of quality that we need to develop as a team and to take on Europe's best. In fact, he would not be out of place in the late stages of a European tournament WITH Europe's best.

We are not one of those teams quite yet but we have several established and developing players who fit very easily into a team aspiring to those high standards.

Like most Celtic fans, I was delighted that Scott Bain signed up on a long-term deal, along with Kritoffer Ajer. We already have Kieran Tierney and Olivier Ntcham secured and deals for Scott Brown and Leigh Griffiths look highly likely.

We can now hope that Odsonne Edouard will feel similarly inspired to commit the next few years of his career to us - and more players may do the same.

To steal a phrase from the legend that is Paul McStay, "there's a real buzz about the place" at Celtic right now and top quality players want to be part of the story that's being written.

Let's hope that the best chapters are still to come.

Too close to call! Stats suggest Scottish Cup Semi-Final between Celtic and The Rangers will be a nailbiter

Hunskelping. It's something that never gets old. And the title of Hunskelper is one of highest accolades that can be conferred on any Celtic player, manager or team.

We have several at present but perhaps also too many people who take victory for granted.

However, a few facts and stats suggest that the Scottish Cup semi-final with The Rangers will be far closer than many Celtic fans are prepared for.

But, I hear you say, we're coasting to the title, far ahead of the southside pretenders, who have never beaten us over 90 or 120 minutes in their short history.

And, having played perhaps our worst 45 minutes at Ibrox, we beat eventually them with ten men.

All true and valid points.

And yet, there are one or two notable issues to suggest that we would be unwise to take a Cup Final place for granted.

The most significant of these is the disparity in terms of performance when comparing Celtic and The Rangers at home and away.

Breaking the table down, it is clear that Celtic (unbeaten at Celtic Park) have been ten points and roughly a goal-a-game better than The Rangers in terms of goal difference.

Away from home, however, the respective records are extremely close. (In fact, before the match with Hamilton Accies last week, the won/drawn/lost record was identical.)

The Rangers have scored 38 goals in 16 (2.4 a game) matches to Celtic's 31 in 17 (1.8 per match) games. That's a third more than Celtic's goals tally.

In contrast, Celtic have conceded six fewer goals than The Rangers by a similar factor (13:19) having played a game less.

Now, there is an obvious point to make that playing at a neutral venue is not the same as playing an ordinary away game.

But the factors that have contributed to the statistics mentioned above may not be clear until the game is done.

We can say that Celtic Park is an intimidating venue and that an overwhelmingly Celtic crowd can positively influence results.

On the other hand, perhaps the pressures associated with those same factors have actually inhibited the performances of The Rangers.

But it is not at all clear how those factors will play out at Hampden with a roughly 50-50 spectator split.

Should both teams be thought of as playing away or is the Hampden venue something distinct for both teams?

If the influence of the crowd is a crucial factor, basic logic would imply that Celtic will be somewhat disadvantaged while The Rangers will be somewhat advantaged. (If a crowd dominated by home fans boosts Celtic but intimidates The Rangers.)

And that would suggest that the result is far from the foregone conclusion that many Celtic fans would wish for.

Add to that factors related to the playing surface. It was difficult to judge based on the Motherwell-Aberdeen semi as the ball spent little time on the grass.

However, if the pitch is as bad as on many previous occasions, it will definitely benefit the less skilful team (though the larger dimensions would favour a team playing expansive, varied football rather than one that would clip its own pitch in order to contain the same qualities).

Also, throwing in the fact that the referee, Bobby Madden, is a former season ticket holder at Ibrox, you could have an intriguing match on your hands.

Unexpected plusses for Celtic have come in the form of Dave King effectively promising to sack the current Ibrox coach Graeme Murty and the idiotic furore over David Bates daring to sign for Hamburg on a free transfer.

In normal circumstances, these issues would likely damage the remaining morale of the Ibrox coaching and playing staff alike.

But, on the back of some lukewarm Celtic form, with an uncertain defence and the normal tension that comes with trying to achieve something that has never been done before - a second consecutive domestic treble - it would be foolish to expect a procession to the final on 19th May.

We have two painful examples in the past few seasons of semi-final disappointments.

This Celtic side will have to be at its very best to have that chance to make history.

We have the players and the coaching team to do it.

Make no mistake – everyone will have to be at their best and they must believe to achieve.

It will be a challenge but I believe we will get the result.

I believe in our people. Let's be ready.

Falkirk Twidiot outs The Rangers pal as author of Union Bears ‘Bash-a-Fenian’ post

Meet Jamie, the Union Bear trying to stir violence against Celtic fans and players

After yesterday’s post about the Union Bears and their walk before the “match with the Fenians”, which incited violence against Celtic fans and players, you might have expected those smart fellows to keep their cards close to their chest.

But then you’d have reckoned without the smarts of “Falkirk Fan”, Dave, and Jamie “from Fife”.

Responding with a number of “crying laughing” (pishing myself) Emojis, Dave decided that the post, quoting the call for “dark clothing” was so comical that he felt compelled to say to the previously unnamed Jamie:

“JamiepRFC wit have you done”

Jamie replies further down the thread:

“Everybody has to dress like the rainbow now, the meltdown because the dark clothing is unbelievable we’ve worn dark clothing for 5 years in our section”

The punctuation is Davie and Jamie’s.

(Note, the post only referenced the call to wear dark clothing to highlight the idiocy of the flier.)

Left, Jamie who created the flier inciting violence and, Right, Dave,
who exposed him. (No payment has been received from Stone Island)

You can follow the threads for yourselves, presuming that neither Dave, nor Jamie have “protected” their accounts.

New Blog Post
Why The Rangers and Police Scotland must take action against the Union Bears https://t.co/QnlXhNuayP

— One Star Means More (@theceltsarehere) March 7, 2018

Both have been asked directly if Jamie was, as seems clear from the dialogue, the creator of the flier calling for the march, with images of someone in a Celtic shirt being kicked in the head.

Dave claims to be a Falkirk (not Rangers or, presumably, The Rangers) fan, who likes Ajax and then claims to support Celtic, Bohemians, and St Pauli while having the Union Jack and flag of Israel on his profile page.

He later claims that Jamie is a good “Fife c*unt”, though it has been impossible to verify more than a third of that statement, thus far.

However, let the last word about Jamie go to Dave.

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Why The Rangers and Police Scotland must take action against the Union Bears

Incitement to attack Celtic players and fans shows they are dangerously out of control

At the best of times they're unpleasant – a “permanent embarrassment and an occasional disgrace,” as one journalist famously said of the club they commemorate.

They set out to offend and sometimes achieve the notoriety they are seeking with the crudest displays of anti-Irish and anti-Catholic bigotry.

The Union Bears are a  group of people who you wouldn't leave alone with sharp objects, never mind an egg and a microwave,

But, when those who are motivated by little other than being noticed and don't get the attention they crave, they can quickly move towards becoming dangerous.

And that appears to be the case with their fans' march before Celtic visit Ibrox on Sunday (or the “match against the Fenians”, as they put it).

Forget the obvious copycatting of the Green Brigade with their Corteos – no one has a monopoly on walking the highways (and many of the Union Bears are will be experienced street-walkers).

But the banner calling on supporters to take to the streets “in dark clothing” carries a clear incitement to violence against Celtic supporters and/or players.

The “Goodnight, Green White” has a silhouette image of someone wearing a green-and-white hooped jersey being kicked in the head, which could only reasonably be interpreted as encouraging physical assaults.

This should particularly concern the Scottish Football Association, given the number of  incursions by fans of The Rangers in recent years, especially in light of the rioting at Hampden after the 2016 Scottish Cup Final.

There can be no excuses for Rangers continuing to accommodate this group of dangerously out-of-control thugs and Police Scotland must take all necessary measures to prevent threats to public safety.

The time to act on that is now, when the incitement is so explicit as it is with the Union Bears' poster.

Waiting until after the called-for assaults have taken place is not an option.

Ironically, as many will be aware, the image they chose to adapt is a famous one with Anti-Fascist Action (AntiFA) groups for years (you can read about its origins here) but it's not the first time that extreme right-wing hate groups have missed the irony of their own messages.

But, while the march has, as with most Union Bears activities, been met with mockery, the potential consequences are serious.

There is no place for this in football and there is no place for this in Scotland.

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Extreme excitement at The Rangers shows they know they can't touch Celtic

You only have to watch the reactions of fans of The Rangers as their black ball comes out of the bag, signalling a Scottish cup semi-final against Celtic to realise, that our domestic football world is unipolar.

Supporters of Tranmere Rovers might exude similar excitement, if drawn against Liverpool but a better comparison would be with Accrington Stanley.

You see, the people are guaranteed their big day out. They know they can “get the battle fever on” (© Jock Wallace) and eye-poppingly spew bile about which legend-in-the-making is going to nail whichever Celtic player is commanding their immediate irrational hostility.

In truth, the post-liquidation Ibrox club of Warburton, Caixinha and Murty hasn’t quite lived up to its ancestors in demonstrating the art of kicking seven shades of biological waste material out of their opponents.

Sure, they signed Bruno Alves and, yes, he looks like a bad-ass mudda but generally, they haven’t been quite as cynical on the field as Rangers were famed for until 2012.

But the frothing fans have, if anything, got worse. It’s something akin to the British Empire mentality.

When Britain was successfully running roughshod over countries across the world, you would hardly imagine that its supporters felt they had much to prove. They were on top of the world and retained an arrogant presumption that it would always be that way.

Now that the empire is consigned to history, however, those who never accepted that fact are more aggressive than ever in pretending that things are as they were. Talking up their chances of having a square go with Vladimir Putin’s Russia, etc.

But the reality is that Britain will never seriously compete for supremacy of any kind again and that any realignment of Scottish football is unlikely to feature a duopoly of Glasgow clubs.

And that’s why fans – and players – of The Rangers were cheering being drawn against Celtic in the cup. They’ve got a little confidence after a string of modest results and they think that they are back in the big time.

And that means Celtic.

Fans of very few Scottish Premiership clubs would be celebrating at drawing any team. The “big draw” is the stuff to excite small clubs who will relish the chance to be the talk of the country for a day. And, maybe – just maybe – they’ll give the big bhoys a bloody nose.

It’s comparable to the excitement Celtic fans used to feel when drawing Barcelona – but being skelped by Barcelona quickly grew tiresome and, while every dog inevitably has its day, The time when The Rangers emerge as a major power in Scottish football is not yet upon us.

While the papers will stoke the anticipation of the tie, the reality is that in footballing terms it’s probably the kindest that Celtic could have hoped for.

Aberdeen and Kilmarnock would have been more dangerous and the fewer times we play Motherwell with their tactical violence the better.

Kilmarnock and Hearts have already beaten Celtic this season so, logically, there is a possibility of The Rangers emulating them if we don’t play to top form.

But that’s the point – if the Celtic players perform close to their best, we will win.

And the dogs, who feel they have been thrown a bone, will have to wait for another day.

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What now for Celtic and Brendan Rodgers? Pt 1 Legitimate goals for the season ahead

Well, the season which surpassed all understanding is done. Breathtaking, astonishing, Roy-of-the-Rovers stuff, topped off by Tom Rogic showing that his appreciation of high drama is as sharp as his shooting.

To all who played a part at Celtic Park over the past 12 months, thank you, well done and stay healthy. You’ll be getting calls for commemorative events in 20, 25, 30, 40 and 50 years time.

Now, to next season with hopes burning brightly and eyes on more glittering prizes.

But what should we realistically expect? (The silly season in the Scottish football media – is there any other kind? – will bring reported diktats from Desmond, swoops from down south and signing speculation to make you weep. Most of it will be unfounded garbage, much like the rest of this article.

Targets

Firstly, targeting the treble is usually ridiculous. Don’t get this wrong – Celtic should always intend to win any domestic tournament the club enters. But to expect to win all three again is just foolish.

Much as a self-confident man may truly believe that he has a reasonable chance of dating any of three desirable partners, it would be plain daft to be disappointed at not securing the romantic attentions of all three at the same time.

The smart man will direct his attentions to the best of the three and hope that, if disappointed, the next best will not prove to be out of reach. (It would be stretching the analogy to say that we should only hope to win one cup.)

It can be done but probably won’t. If Celtic end another season unbeaten, we should all wait for the space ships to take us away from this doomed planet as it would surely be a sign that the powers that kept the world turning were broken.

But to win the League and do so comfortably must be the number one target. The “comfort” part is important. Daylight between Celtic and Aberdeen (probably 15-20 points at the season’s end) takes pressure off players, allows some to be rested for what should be the late rounds of the Scottish Cup and lets Brendan Rodgers preserve some of the key performers by sparing them the last 15-30 minutes of games when their bodies are spent.

Prediction: 1st Celtic – P 38 W 29 D 6 L 3 Pts 93 (Stats based on the “Guff” system of football forecasting.

Scottish Cup

Having (hopefully) won the league in April, we should be red hot favourites to lift the Scottish Cup to make it a double.

By that time, we should be able to focus on the late rounds with the luxury of not needing points or defending an unbeaten run.

Who would we face in the final? Probably Aberdeen or Hibs, who I expect to make a real go of it in their return to the top division, possibly finishing third behind Aberdeen.

The major likelihood of avoiding one of these in the final would be if we were drawn away from home to both in the early rounds. Cups, of course, reflect the luck of the draw as well as form and Hearts, The Rangers or St Johnstone or a few others could all feature.

League Cup

This is the least prestigious of the three tournaments and the one most likely to lead to disappointment, ending any hopes of back-to-back trebles.

Again, Aberdeen or Hibs seem like the most probable winners, but any team in the top flight has a chance, including the two smaller Glasgow clubs.

The major reason for this is that Celtic are likely to be heavily-involved in European competition and strongly focussed on the League campaign. Something usually gives in those circumstances, with players on the fringes of the first team likely to feature.

So, with Celtic’s the scalp that everyone wants to take, a “shock” exit around the semis or quarter-finals seems a strong possibility.
Prediction:
Headlines such as: “Celtic have been shown not to be infrangible – other teams now know how to beat them.”

“Shock cup exit shows cracks in the Rodgers master-plan.”

Europe

“ I think we can win the Big Cup. Semi-finals, at least. Maybe the quarters.”
We all know the guy from the pub. He’s the same one who always answers: “11 Jimmy Johnstones” when chat turns to picking your all-time greatest football team.

Tell him (it’s invariably a he) to get a grip.

We are very good, our improvement has been beyond what just about any of us could ever have hoped for – but the gap in the league table doesn’t reflect how close we are to being a top European side.

Put your cuppa down because we’re not up to that standard – yet. But we’ll get better.

The thing about playing significantly inferior teams four times is that you can emphasise your (notional) 40% superiority four times a season. Celtic were 30 points better than the second-placed team but how well would Aberdeen do in any of the top German, Spanish, Italian, French or English leagues?

They’d almost certainly be relegated.

The Dutch, Portuguese, Belgian or Russian leagues, for example? Probably around mid-table.

So, don’t make the last season’s heroics an albatross around Brendan Rodgers’s neck. Champions league qualification is not assured by any means.
We’ll probably go into the last qualifying round as favourites with odds, depending on the opposition of somewhere around 55-70% success.

In the best-case scenario, we’ll have a tough tie with a real possibility of going out.

Personally, I think we’ll get there because of the improvement we’ve already seen, the fitness and cohesion of the squad, the quality we possess and – above all – the fact that we have a top-quality manager and coaching team.

But there will be a few butterflies.

We should realistically aim to qualify for the group stages and then be playing for 3 or 4th place. And that’s where I think we’ll be.

That will probably be clear after four matches, should we qualify. If we are in with a chance of second place after match four and secure third overall, that would represent a highly-successful season.

We could then look forward to some intriguing match-ups in the Europa League.

Looking ahead

What is perhaps more interesting is the longer-term targets – over Brendan’s seasons three, four and five.

In the past 14 years, we have reached a UEFA Cup Final and the last 16 of the Champions League twice. Be in no doubt that Brendan will want to go one better.

That would entail, obviously, reaching the last eight of the Champions League or winning the Europa League.

Targeting the Champions League last 16 should be for season 2018/19.

But for the last eight or a Europa League win, look to 2020/21.

That’s a major task but it should be where we hope our trajectory to take us.

So, for next season: a League and Scottish Cup double with a 3rd-place finish in the Champions League and a respectable showing in the Europa.

No pressure!

Coming soon -- Pt 2: Squad ins and outs to achieve our goals.
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The Scottish football media - a special shower

That fans of a Celtic persuasion tend to distrust the Scottish football media is nothing new. Those of us old enough to remember Don Morrison and Alex “Candid” Cameron needed little convincing that being anti-Celtic was rarely, if ever, to the detriment of any aspiring young journalist's career.

But, even in those days, the Scottish sports press had the odd reliable maverick, such as Ian Archer, the cautiously respected like Alan Davidson and the rare pearl that was Hugh McIlvanney whose retirement in March of this year surely pulled down the curtain on Scotland's last great sportswriter.

It now seems ironic, if not fanciful, to note that one of the would-be heirs to McIlvanney's mantle was one James Traynor, formerly of the Glasgow Herald parish. There is a whole generation of football fans too young to remember those heady days and most are reluctant to believe they existed.

Traynor, like no other, embodies the collapse of professional and ethical journalistic standards and the derision heaped on those who followed him into the profession.

I sometimes wonder what prompted Traynor to propel himself from understated respectability to the sort of man who would represent the worst form of dishonest tabloid journalism to the darkest tactics in PR – sometimes blurring the two roles.

Once, Scottish football fans simply laughed at Darryl Broadfoot and his “Greek Saga” prose. But few are laughing now – from within the ranks of the media or their consumers at any club.

However, since the events preceding – and subsequent to – the liquidation of Rangers, there has been the sort of psychotic meltdown that one might only expect when facing Armageddon.

With shock troops rallied by Traynor and Jack Irvine before him, a climate of fear has arisen concerning any mention of Rangers.

Chris McLaughlin was banned from Ibrox, with scarcely a whimper raised publicly by his peers. Graham Spiers was forced to leave his freelance gig at the Herald, after a gutless performance by Magnus Llewellyn, who is now to be his new editor at The Times.

And only recently Tom English and Stuart Cosgrove were named in an “enemies-of-Rangers” style press release that some viewed as an incitement to disorder. Again, the defence of both men was muted, to say the least.

But if some would say this calls into question the intestinal fortitude of the press pack, they have pulled no punches in attacking the readers, listeners, new media interlopers and their fellow inhabitants of “Socialmedialand”.

In this, few provide better exemplars than Neil Cameron, normally a relatively low-key player on the scene. After a warning to Herald & Times staff came from Barclay McBain, Cameron quickly took to social media with a “what the boss said” Tweet that, to some, may have looked like a bit of career opportunism.

But Cameron has been more full-blooded in his online spats with retired journalist Brian McNally and particularly Phil Mac Giolla Bháin, who Cameron has described as both “a vile man” and “a scab”.

Some Neil Cameron Twitter exchanges

Now, Phil is not everybody's cup of tea, including a number of Celtic supporters, but he remains a figure who challenges the natural order, being on the outside of the Scottish media tent pissing in, against years of tradition and patronage in the private members' club.

And yet there is something desperate in all of this. Some have questioned why Cameron should have been so silent on the fate of Spiers (and Angela Haggerty) yet so abusive to Mac Giolla Bháin, invoking their common membership of the National Union of Journalists, as if the number one rule of the club is “Omerta”.

It's relatively easy to attack McNally as he presumably has few strings to pull for young journalists and has had the irritating habit of enjoying his retirement by criticising coverage of football issues. For this, he has drawn abuse from, among others, Keith Jackson.

Much of the current talk is of a column by Gordon Waddell, who has insisted that only the word of journalists on the scene at Hampden can be taken at face value over the events of the Scottish Cup Final.

The likes of Cameron and Spiers, naturally enough, support this while playing down Jackson's claim that every Rangers player was assaulted after the final.

But there's the rub. There is barely a shred of trust, respect or sympathy left for any Scottish sports journalist – and they have brought that state of affairs entirely on themselves.

Spiers remains the one who has done most to stand up for the integrity of his profession but he has got less fearless as time has gone on. And Spiers retains a haughtiness, sometimes verging on a sneering tone directed at the plebs who follow this game that he graces with his words, an attitude that is amplified by English, who seems to feed his not-inconsiderable ego by putting fans down.

Spiers and English will mock their own readers as derisively as Jackson (if a little more pithily), laugh up their sleeves at the antagonistic antics of Hugh Keevins and blindly ignore the absurdity of their fellow journos Chris Jack, Matt Lindsay et al.

And for this, they expect what – our trust? The people that have gone into every contortion possible to resist saying that Rangers Football Club was liquidated and the evidence of corruption at the heart of the Scottish game expect respect?

Cameron eventually did something to mention The Offshore Game report into corruption, after Spiers acknowledged its existence.

But it is an indictment on the entire industry that the best and most comprehensive treatment of the issue was by Robbie Dinwoodie – again retired – writing for the independent Bella Caledonia (aptly titled The Unreported).

And, after so conspicuously failing to stand together on real interference and even intimidation, why should they expect a level of regard so much higher than that which they (fail to) show the football public?

Will any of these journalists of note rally to the aid of Rachel Lynch, the latest writer to be harassed for saying things that are off-script – or will they offer her the same support that Jim Spence enjoyed?

What they are struggling to accept is that their relevance is diminishing as fast as the esteem in which they may once have been held.

Frankly, we don't need to know that a journalist was sent to Monaco to watch a draw that was broadcast live by UEFA.

We don't need to hear their ill-qualified insights into events of matches that were televised live (especially when some of those match reports have been written by people who weren't even at the game).

And for their “eye-witness reports” to carry any weight, those delivering them must have more than a long-lost sliver of credibility.

The one enduring skill of the overwhelming majority of the Scottish football media pack is to irritate fans enough to get a reaction to feed off.

In other words, the term, “football journalist”, has become synonymous with being a troll.

But, like a troll, that will soon all be water under the bridge – most of their careers are sailing down the river.

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Only a record score will save Ronny in Cup Semi Local Derby

With the jitters setting in amongst an increasing number of Ronny Deila's estwhile supporters, the Scottish Cup Semi-Final draw offered a tie that was a potential minefield or a possible hope of redemption.

Little more than 12 months ago, in another semi-final, much was anticipated by a slavering media pack, hopeful that Deila's resurgent Celtic could be derailed by an Ibrox side marshalled by that wily old fox, Kenny McDowall.

The event proved something of a damp squib with the national stadium's surface the nearest thing to a leveller on display, a field more appropriate to the lower reaches of junior football.

On that occasion, the then Championship favourites failed to record a shot on target, something that will surely be a more realistic aim this time around, going strongly in their domestic league, a chance of Petrofac Cup glory and, at the helm, a coach who is the envy of Europe's elite clubs.

Anyone who has listened to Mark Warburton's pronouncements on the finer points of commerce, tactics, advice on refereeing, the science of artificial playing surfaces and football etiquette will realise that Celtic, who have been on shaky form of late, will face a very different prospect to that rag-tag assembly of hoofers, journeymen and cultural icons who last faced the Hoops in the south side of Glasgow.

And yet, such have been the demands placed on Ronny Deila and so profound have been the fears around developments at Celtic Park that, for the first time in more than 125 years, a Celtic manager will almost certainly be expected to deliver a record victory to have any hope of retaining the faith of his most ardent partisans.

Few would envy him on 16th April, facing a team currently 37 points ahead of Morton, who Celtic beat 3-0 to set up the clash, yet being required to match, if not better, that result to remain in a job.

The choice is a stark one – a historic win or you're history, Ronny.--