Kevin Thomson 
Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images Sport
“The treble – it’s the one thing that got away from me last season [14/15] through a bad decision and it still hurts. That’s the thing I want more than anything. People talk about eight, nine and 10-in-a-row, but I can see the treble coming quicker if we work hard and get a bit of luck along the way.”- Scott Brown in his biography, My Celtic Story.
A feat often talked about, yet rarely achieved. Indeed only two Celtic managers have ever won the treble, Jock Stein twice in 1966/67 and 1968/9 and more recently Martin O’Neill in season 2000/1. Stein’s first was, of course, part of a quintuple with the European Cup only to be achieved by one other European team, Barcelona who won five in 08/09, adding the FIFA Club World Cup at the start of the next season.
With this in mind, the regularity with which it is demanded as a realistic target by the Celtic faithful may well be questioned. In Deila’s first season, to which Brown refers above, the treble was close to being achieved were it not for an extra time loss to Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the semi- final of the Scottish Cup. The game featured an incredible moment of blindness by the referee with a clear handball by Josh Meekings stopping a certain goal, and later a sending off for Craig Gordon proved it wasn’t Celtic’s day. They would have fancied themselves in the final against Falkirk, alas, it wasn’t to be.
Celtic right now have an incredible spread of the goals with James Forrest, Tom Rogic, Leigh Griffiths, Scott Sinclair and of course the European Golden Boy nominee Moussa Dembele all more than capable of making the net bulge. Even the skipper got in on the act at the weekend.
No team wins a title by winning games 6-0 for the entire season, games like the season opener against Hearts and Saturday’s win over Dundee are the sort of games that win titles. Games like the Kilmarnock away game last season when Rogic pinged in an absolute beauty with only seconds to go.
Our overreliance on Griffiths, as fantastic as he was last season, seems a thing of the past, giving us the added value of if one man has an off day there will always be someone else to come up with the goods.
The Martin O’Neill team of 00/01 had Larsson in imperious form scoring 53 in all competitions Sutton and Moravcik on 14 and Petrov, Johnston and McNamara all grabbing 7. Even the big centre backs were capable of scoring with Mjallby, Valgaeren and Vega all bagging four for the season.
Season 66/67 had Joe McBride as top scorer overall with 35 and Stevie Chalmers in the league with 21. Our goals per game ratio currently dwarfs both of those seasons at a massive 3.8 per game in the league. Brendan’s favourite word is “character” and a will to keep going to the very end is evident with this Celtic side. When frustration may well have taken over against Alloa, they remained focused and resolute and got the job done.
Any reasons to doubt? Defensive solidity, perhaps. So far this season we have conceded on average 1.3 goals per game in the league, significantly higher than 0.8 average managed by O’Neill in his treble winning season. One thing is for sure, however, left back isn’t a problem.
Kieran Tierney dealt admirably with an inform Raheem Sterling in midweek after a man of the match performance against Kilmarnock. The researchers at EA who inexplicably gave him a 65 rating for FIFA 17 need more than just their eyes examined!
It seems as if it is just a matter of time before shutouts become a more regular occurrence, with Kolo Toure, Erik Sviatchenko and Jozo Simunovic all being players with great talent who over time will create a better understanding and a more solid defensive partnership.
Conceding too many goals may well have been the achilles heel of Rodgers’ Liverpool side’s bid for Premier League glory, but I would imagine such problems shall not emerge for Celtic in the closing stages of this season.
Could this be the year? I certainly hope so!
