As Rangers stretch their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership to 13 points, Celtic fans will be clinging onto to a similar hope the Gers had as season 19/20 was awarded prematurely.
When the Scottish Premiership was called last season, awarding Celtic a questionable ninth title in a row, Rangers were 13 points behind their rivals with a game in hand.
There were also two Old Firm games to come with Rangers effectively being able to drag the title race back to four points.
This time around Celtic have two games in hand on Rangers – meaning they could pull the Gers’ lead back to seven points – whilst there are three Old Firm games to go.
But whilst there’s longer to go this time around – and as desperate Celtic fans cling to a surprise Rangers collapse with the league technically still in their team’s hands – it’s the form which raises the biggest question about the decision.
Whilst it’s hard to tell – and absolutely irrelevant – to discuss how things would’ve gone had the Covid-19 pandemic not hit, we can look to the title being awarded without the full league season being played.
Rangers might’ve been on rotten form before the shutdown but since returning they have been flying at home and abroad.
In contrast, Celtic have stumbled their way to the points they have won this season but the SPFL essentially decided that they couldn’t be caught from the last campaign.
As leagues across Europe restarted the SPFL claimed that they couldn’t award proportional award payments to clubs and essentially held back cash in order to get a season-ending vote.
What proceeded this was a debacle of monumental proportions with a third of clubs essentially giving the current corporate structure at the top of the game a vote of no confidence.
This season we can look to how far we’ve come as a team and squad and point to our unbelievable 25 game unbeaten streak as evidence of our intent this campaign.
But Celtic’s monumental collapse – their two wins in 12 games – points to the fact that last season’s campaign was anything but over when they were handed a league title.
With the focus now firmly on this season, a leading broadcaster considered a Celtic-centric voice has been already conceding the title to Rangers this weekend.
