After Rangers were crowned Champions of Scotland earlier in March, the Celtic dynasty at the top of Scottish football went out with a whimper more than a bang.
The club who hung out the flag of war irredeemably turned it upside down and painted it the white of surrender as Celtic’s 0-0 draw at Tannadice handed Rangers that long-awaited 55th title.
In doing so, this team of lacklustre Celtic charges surrendered their own personal quest for 10IAR with all the commemorative t-shirts, bangles and china sets going up in flames with it.
Absolutely none of them saw this coming – don’t let them dare pretend they did – and they spent the last decade taking every title for granted in the hopes of securing The Ten.
Now it’s all about The Nine, apparently.
And whilst Rangers fans took to the streets of Scotland in their numbers, banners waving and billboards hijacked, their Celtic rivals retreated to lick their wounds before coming back into view.
The Parkhead Old Firm – where an energy-sapped and captainless Rangers managed a draw and probably could’ve got more – was supposed to be a turning point.
If anything it just highlighted how big a job the Celtic one is with Rangers – even whilst fatigued – more than a match for our rivals and now unbeaten at Parkhead in three games.
This was also the last chance they had to end our unbeaten run on their patch.
As the Parkhead club’s fans have re-emerged from the shadows the reality of the situation has begun to really take hold.
Rangers aren’t just going to be Champions this season, that eternal hold they thought they had on Scottish football has been broken and for the first time in a decade, they’re doing the chasing.
An expensive summer awaits, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone who isn’t a Celtic fan putting money on the new guy and the new squad stopping Rangers next season.
In response, the old club new club debate has once again reared its head in hilarious scenes which are so patently bitter the lack of self-awareness is incredible.
Started by we’re not half of anything one club since 1888 Celtic themselves, some of their most influential fans have followed suit soothing the pain of 55 with Sevcos aplenty and the tonic of the legendary nine in a row or quadruple treble they spent 10 years singing about.
First up is Celts for Change, a hilarious group set up with the sole notion – it appears – of highlighting big bad Rangers and all the things Celtic should be doing to stop us.
Mouthing off about things they clearly don’t have the emotional or academic intelligence to understand, the group take aim at the five-way agreement, the famous res 12 and all the usual Sevcoist indulgence of the most mental in the Parkhead club’s faction.
Next up was the Rangers Tax Case blog/Twitter account which at one point was leaking documents aplenty regarding the club’s financial problems in 2012.
Once positioned as a bastion of press freedom and the public’s right to know, the account appears to have been hijacked by a 40+ Celtic fan wearing green Adidas sambas whilst crying into his third venom in an empty Santa Ponsa bar. This was supposed to be easy.
And last but by no means least in the Sevcoist’s Holy trinity is none other than filmmaker and masonic conspiracy theorist Paul Larkin.
Rising to prominence amongst Celtic fans of a certain vintage for his hilarious documentary Anyone but Celtic – which talks up a masonic refereeing conspiracy – Larkin also had an outburst on Twitter.
So, what have we learned ladies and gentlemen?
For years these guys have operated and commentated on the premise that Rangers died and were never coming back. Celtic were untouchable.
But now it appears that many of the Celtic support are waking up to a stark reality that 55 is only the beginning and that Rangers – far from be six feet under – are very much alive, kicking and ready to dominate.
Meanwhile, Celtic’s hunt for a manager continues with one ex-Dortmund manager the latest to be linked to the role at Parkhead.