The future is bright, the future is Green and white

What a difference a year makes.

In May of last year, our club was in complete disarray. Eddie Howe led us on a merry dance and what seemed to be a managerial certainty, disappeared right before our eyes.

I remember how gutted I felt when the news filtered through that he wouldn’t be taking the role.

I suppose at that time, anything at all was an improvement from what we had witnessed up to that point. Eddie Howe seemed like a good fit and most of us would have felt at that time, he could have done a good job for us.

We’ll never know and in truth, the old saying – “Everything happens for a reason” – could not have been more apt when we consider where we find ourselves today.

On Saturday, we can all but wrap up the title and I don’t think anybody would have dreamed that was possible in May of last year.

As turn arounds go, it’s probably one of the fastest I’ve ever seen in the game.

When you look back at the time Fergus McCann took over our club in 1994, it took almost four years and two managers before we were competitive and able to win a championship in 1998.

When you consider the player turnover we’ve had since last season finished, I don’t think we had anywhere close to that level of squad disruption between 1994 and 1998.

This is what will make Ange Postecoglu’s achievement all the more spectacular.

It is nothing short of miraculous.

But it also leads you to ask the question, was the Ibrox side’s title win nothing more than a mirage?

An unrealistic reflection of the game in Scotland at the time?

In hindsight, it would appear that way.

On their forums today, their fans bemoan the fact that they never had a better chance to win a treble than they had last season.

In doing so, they acknowledge that this chance was there because we were at our weakest, not because they were at their strongest.

Their strength was built on a pandemic utterly altering the normal football landscape and managed decline, which peaked at exactly the same time, within the four walls of Celtic Park.

A confluence of events, which came together to create the perfect storm.

Somehow, the Ibrox side managed to navigate their way into the eye of that perfect storm, seeing it out comfortably to the backdrop of empty stadiums, caffeine induced comfort on the playing field and a baffling “immunity” from SARS Covid-19.

This is what created the mirage in Scottish football in 2021.

Last Sunday was realistically their last hope of retaining the title. I’ll give credit where it’s due, they gave it a good go, but ultimately they came up short in the end and it wasn’t enough.

For them, all eyes are now on tomorrow night’s semi-final of the Europa League, failing progress there, they have the Scottish cup final to look forward to.

Scant consolation really, when you consider what winning this year’s title would have meant to them financially.

The loss of that revenue will surely result in the realisation that Celtic will once again start to pull away from them.

Celtic will now reap those benefits and what benefits they are.

Participation alone will bring in between £30 and £40 million in revenue. Win revenue, depending on our group performance could further raise that above £60 million.

That is serious revenue, especially when you take into account we’re qualifying automatically for the group stages.

The threat of losing that automatic qualification spot was eliminated last night when Liverpool knocked Villareal out of the semi-finals.

We have the whole summer to prepare for this, to strengthen our squad and ensure we are at least in a position to compete in the groups.

Added to that, we also seem to be working away in the background at getting Cameron Carter-Vickers and Felipe Jota tied onto permanent deals.

If these deals are done and considering this is a £12+ million outlay for the club, it will show we are really serious about the future.

Building to compete in Europe has to be on our agenda and hopefully Mark Lawwell will play a very strong part in ensuring that happens.

Everybody wants to give him the chance to prove himself and this is where he can do it.

His experience combined with Ange’s eye for a player makes for a very exciting transfer window ahead this summer.

I have no doubt we’ll get in the right players to augment our squad and strengthen us for our European adventures.

It’s been a long time since we heard Zadok the Priest at Celtic park and the roar that accompanies it.

Next season, we’ll be on the stage a club of our stature belongs on.

The future is bright.

The future is green and white!