I TOOK a little hiatus from writing this column last week for fear that the hullabaloo and joy that filled every space of Celtic fan social media would inevitably come back to bite fans in the backside.
It truly has been a very strange year following the Glasgow giants as every step forward this season was immediately followed by a clutch-burning gear shift in reverse like something out of a Fast and Furious movie.
That Kilmarnock game was a big test of character for leaders Hearts, given they had to play after the Hoops' victory over Motherwell. It was a test they failed. A week of unbridled joy followed and it seemed the Parkhead club was firmly back in the driving seat after Hearts fell to a 1-0 defeat at Rugby Park, cutting the gap at the top to two points.
Rangers kept their end of the bargain as they squeezed a narrow win over managerless St Mirren and despite the Buddies competing ferociously, the blue side of Glasgow edged the game and got themselves within three points of league leaders Hearts.
The following weekend saw the order reversed, with Hearts and Rangers playing first, managing 1-0 and 4-1 victories respectively ahead of Celtic’s trip to Tannadice on Sunday afternoon.
It's a place billed as almost a second home for the Hoops given their recent history of title-clinching moments, harking back to Jan Venegoor of Hesselink’s legendary last-day winner and more recently Giorgious Giakoumakis' bullet header sealing a draw and clinching the title in Ange Postecoglu’s first campaign.
But all the recent good memories of the venue soon came crashing back to reality when the stat of the day flashed upon the screen, giving the kiss of death to Martin O’Neill’s side: the Derry native had ‘never lost a game to Dundee United in his career’ and honestly my heart sank on reading that.
The proverbial commentator’s curse springs to mind when reading things like that, but as we awaited the team news and saw several missing players, including loanees Julian Araujo and Tomas Cvancara, we were truly in for a long afternoon.
Despite the return of captain Callum McGregor, the performance that followed was a gutless and spineless one, and the shocking pitch, while a factor, cannot be held up as an excuse. Rather than a team chasing a title, they resembled a team who had been grabbed out of the stands after a pre-match pint and thrown on to the pitch.
A worrying first-half display saw the game scoreless and hopefully O’Neill and Shaun Maloney could plug the gaps and fill the obvious gaping void which had been missing in the opening 45 minutes with a match-winner of some sort. But inevitably the goals came for the home side and before long Celtic were staring down the barrel of an EIGHTH defeat of the season, which to dampen the most positive fan's spirits, has never been seen in a title-winning season.
The title race in Scotland has been nothing short of epic, but only for the neutral. The three-way race is still ongoing as we head into the final stretch of seven games with all three due to play one another at some stage in May. That will lead to points carnage and is Celtic's main hope.
But from the Celtic fans' perspective, it's uncharted territory, and before the entitlement shouts rear their ugly heads again, lets take a brief moment to understand the frustration which fans are suffering this season.
Last year not only were the season tickets increased across the board, the sale of Nicholas Kuhn and Adam Idah for almost £30 million in a record-breaking revenue year for the Hoops resulted in exactly £14.5 million spent on a squad which was not only in desperate need of a refresh, but was hit with one of the worst injury periods in the club's history with four key starters being sidelined for months at a time.
The Champions League exit was an embarrassing one and the lack of planning and panic buys – including free transfers of out of favour and unfit former Premier League stars – has caused this car crash of a season to get to this point.
Throw in the four different managerial spells, including the disastrous Wilfried Nancy experiment over the crunch Christmas period, and a January window that saw Celtic spend less than Partick Thistle and the mentality of the powers-that-be is there for all to see.
That discontent and subjecting their own fans to kettling and being treated like criminals have seen a divide and conquer approach to the season with the pride of the men in suits being held in higher esteem than the success of the football club.
How dare they turn their heads away from the fans on Sunday and pretend they don’t exist! How dare they sit in Celtic ties and claim to be in favour of the betterment of the club whilst they line their own pockets and look in disgust at their own! How dare Dermot Desmond, who spends more time golfing in the US sunshine sipping champagne with Trump's cronies, tell fans what they should think!
They get away with it because they live in a bubble where selling a St Patrick’s Day kit and cashing in on nostalgia is more important than current success and building towards the future.
The model is broken; the club is broken; the relationship with the fans is broken. The only thing not broken is the club cash reserves, which are hoarded while we are expected to live off past glories.
Let's end on a positive note: The international break is upon us and there's a gap where some serious reflection and planning must take place. Celtic have seven games to turn this around. It is improbable – but it is far from impossible.
