poised on the brink of destiny

Like Mark Twain's comment about rumours that he had passed on, reports of Celtic's demise have been greatly exaggerated in the last few weeks. Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has already paid out to anyone who backed Rangers for the SPL, while the hacks at the Sunday Mason greeted the Tynecastle result with a joyous back page splash proclaiming that Rangers had more or less been handed the league flag with 'jam on it' (a reference the Jam Tarts of course, but not a particularly pleasant image all the same).

However, more recent events have witnessed the Lazarus-like return of the Hoops to the SPL fray. It's not quite as cut and dried as last season, when Celtic had the title in the bag by September, and there could well be a sting in the tail yet. But should the Hoops fail to win the league there's always the small consolation of an appearance in the UEFA Cup final in Seville to soften the blow.

Before considering some of the issues raised by Celtic's forthcoming participation in the final in Seville, let's pause to reflect on matters domestic which cast something of a blight over the last Old Firm game, which eventually went ahead at Ibrox on April 27th.

In most normal countries - i.e. those run by competent or semi-competent administrators - a set of fixtures is issued at the start of the season. It might be necessary to change some of them around for one reason or another, but by and large a schedule is given to the participating teams and they largely stick to it.

In the eccentric world of the SPL, on the other hand, some fixtures are prearranged and some are decided by what appears to be a committee employed for just that task. The brown stuff hit the fan on this occasion, not because Celtic didn't realise they had to play Rangers at the Death Star, but because of the SPL's choice of date. It certainly didn't come as much of a surprise here at NTV Mansions when it was announced that the Rangers game would take place two days after the UEFA Cup semi-final; any Celtic supporter, given a look at the options and asked to predict which date the league would plump for would probably have predicted it with a stunning degree of accuracy. But then we're just paranoid basket cases.

It led to something of furore, with Chief Executive Ian McLeod accusing all and sundry of favouring Rangers and Willie Haughey claiming that six of the SPL clubs were sticking the boot in to pay Celtic back for helping to scupper the TV deal a couple of years ago. McLeod departed at the end of the month and you can draw your own conclusions as to whether the two events had any connection.

If nothing else this whole fiasco should mean the end of this ridiculous league split. As we have had pointed out to us in numerous articles in the papers, other teams have had to return from important European matches and play league deciders or cup finals. The difference is that these teams knew what their fixtures were going to be when the season kicked off. That way there's complaints and no arguments.

In the event Celtic's performance and the result rendered the debate moot - a chapter in volume two of Tom Campbell's saga about our collective hysteria.

Played out against a backdrop of a crazy Celtic fiesta in the Broomloan Road Stand, complete with sombreros, fluffy donkeys, road signs to Seville and assorted beach paraphernalia (we know Seville is a hundred miles away from the beach - and anyway, I bet it's got some cracking swimming pools) it was the perfect retort to the SPL and to the gibbering hordes of Mordor. There is no doubt that a Scottish Treble is very much still a prospect for Rangers, but the Eckstraterrestrial might yet turn out to be the only manager ever to achieve that particular feat and still have it overshadowed by Martin O'Neill's achievement.

While McLeish might contend that whatever success his team achieves this season is enhanced because of Celtic's exploits on the bigger stage, sadly for him this sounds a bit like the old, 'Celtic can beat Liverpool, Caley can beat Celtic therefore Caley can beat Liverpool and qualify for the Champions League through the English Premiership' argument. Nothing counts except the scores on the doors.

It's actually hard to get too upset at the prospect of Celtic not winning the league this season. Given a choice, who, in full possession of their faculties, would swap this season's European campaign for domestic 'glory'?

Vigo, Stuttgart, Liverpool... these are proper teams who play in proper leagues. It's like watching real football again, competitive matches where there is a shade of doubt about the outcome of the contest, not how many goals we're going to win by. It's been brilliant. And make no mistake about it: the final will be shown all over the world and apart from the financial benefits, the exposure the Celts are getting across continents is priceless. Much better than claiming to have won three titles in a row (or even thirty-three titles in a row) in the eighteenth best league in Europe, even if it is the Consolation Cup.

Still not convinced? Still prone to get wound up at the prospect of Rangers winning the league? If so you couldn't have grown up watching Celtic in the Eighties. Far from holding their own against opposition from the major leagues on the continent, European competition was something you blinked and missed. We're talking years of being rodgered by Romanians, humped by Hungarians and buggered by Bulgars. Thirty years of mediocrity (give or take the odd spectacular blip) has been consigned to the history books and it's hard to keep the smiles off our faces.

For conclusive proof, just ask yourself what difference it would have made to the Broomloan party had Rangers equalised, or even won it. Nobody would have given a flying castanet.

Europe aside, the run-in to this season's championship is going to be interesting. Once Liverpool were disposed of the weight of expectation increased quite dramatically and it was clear the players were clearly being affected by the daunting prospect of having to beat a stuffy but capable Boavista team to get to the final. To have lost to the Portuguese side would, at the same time, have been a serious blow to morale and a victory for everything that's cynical about the game.

The two post-Boavista performances have seen a resurgent Celtic back to something resembling form. Despite everything, it could yet transpire that the Hoops will end up with nothing this season. Yet, win lose or draw, it's been an extraordinary campaign. It has given us some fantastic nights with Parkhead rocking (almost literally) and it has consolidated our European reputation which was made in last season's Champions League. And here we were, last August, thinking that to be in Europe after Christmas was going to be progress!

At the end of it, even if Celtic finish runners-up, there's still the chance to qualify for the Champions League. Can't be bad can it? And, for all that, we still haven't lost the league or the UEFA Cup yet either.

While the party will go on in Seville win, lose or draw, who would have thought that this Celtic team would have been good enough to knock out Vigo, or Stuttgart (second in the Bundesliga) or even go to Anfield and win?

OFM and his players are standing on the brink of destiny now. It will take a helluva performance to beat Porto but one thing the Bhoys won't be short of backing from the stands. All it takes is for the gods of football to shine us and who knows, anything can happen.

Enjoy the party.

MARMADUKE BAGLEHOLE

PS: A wee story from Patrick Higgins of Port Glasgow. As you know, the final will be played on May 21st. PatrickÕs grandfather was 21 in the year Celtic won the Empire Exhibition Trophy (1938). His father was 21 in the year Celtic won the European Cup in Lisbon. Patrick is 21 this May. He has £21 on Celtic to win 2:1. Watch this space.