Even in lockdown, Celtic stars can still celebrate joy of nine-in-a-row
READ KRIS COMMONS
THERE is a big painting of a special day hanging on a wall in my house. It was done by my friend, the artist Geo, and measures about four foot by three foot.
I’ve got my son William on my shoulders in the scene he painted. My daughter April is in a Celtic dress and I’m holding her hand.
We had just been presented with the league trophy on the podium at Celtic Park and the party was getting underway. My family and all my team-mates were there to share in it. It was a fantastic feeling.
Believe me, these are the memories you want to look back on when you have finished playing. I have other photos dotted around the place of title-winning days and I still enjoy them all.
You remember all the happiness of everyone around you. Neil Lennon was always really big on getting family members, friends, wives and girlfriends onto the pitch on trophy day because he knows what an important role they play.
Then there would also be the doctors, the physios, chiropractors and all the others who had been involved in different ways. Really, these days are some of the best of your life. With everyone together.
Things will obviously be a bit different for the current Celtic players if the SPFL board confirm them as champions at today’s meeting.
If you don’t actually have a title-winning day on the pitch, you think of a scenario like when Leicester City found out they’d won it in England. All of the players were round at Jamie Vardy’s house for those famous celebrations. That’s the way you’d want to greet the news.
Today, the players might find out they are champions in a phone call or see it on television.
But then what, when everyone is in lockdown? You maybe need to get back to home schooling or DIY! It’s a strange circumstance in these very strange times.
I’d like to think they could get together for a Zoom call or something and mark it that way. Because when you win as a team, you want to celebrate with the team-mates and coaching staff who have been beside you every step of the way.
Today’s situation is obviously unique, but forget any idea that the sense of achievement shouldn’t be the same.
There is not even one per cent of doubt in my mind about Celtic going on to win the title if coronavirus hadn’t happened. Not just win it, in fact, but extend their lead. They were 13 points clear with eight games to play and obviously the dominant side in the country.
If I was in that dressing room and they gave me a medal, it would mean just as much as the others I have in the cabinet.
Also, though, my mindset would be: Let’s go for ten now. Again, not just win it, but win it emphatically.
There will be people inside Celtic thinking the same way. That’s the kind of competitors and winners they are.
This would be only the second time in the club’s history that nine-in-a-row has been achieved.
There is a special meaning to that feat in Scotland. You can see it on the side of Ibrox if you drive through Govan. Everyone knows the significance.
For the Celtic players, celebrating that piece of history on the pitch would have been remarkable. Imagine the atmosphere inside the stadium when the trophy was lifted? Absolutely incredible. In that sense, you have to feel a little bit sorry for everyone who is missing out.
The likes of Scott Brown and Callum McGregor would have enjoyed the party that night. But these guys would also have wanted to be back at work the next day if they could. Because now they could go for ten.
This is what Celtic supporters have been singing about since the sixth title. It’s the holy grail. Not having that podium feeling this time around could be something they use going forward. They’ll know just how special it could be next year.
If the players and coaches do get together on Zoom today, there will be celebrations and laughter. And rightly so. But there will also be talk of getting ready for next season because it will be one of the biggest in Celtic’s history.
From my own experience, there would usually be a point in the party when the leaders would say something. Celtic have two huge figures there in Lennon and Brown. It would be a message about savouring the taste of this success, but also getting ready for what is to come.
Listening to them would fuel me. I would think: “Right, I really want to feel this again. Let’s go and do what it takes”.
They are moments that fire you up for the following season. And ones you really miss when you are finished playing.
It’s important that the way this campaign was curtailed doesn’t take anything away from the job Lennon has done.
He threw the gauntlet down to his players when they lost to Rangers on December 29 and it looked like it could be neck-and-neck.
They had a really good winter break in Dubai, they analysed things and worked hard to bring back the spark that had been missing in that derby game. To win 12 and draw one out of 13 domestic games in 2020 tells its own story about how effective that was.
Lennon’s work has been nothing short of remarkable ever since he came back into the club.
If he goes on and leads Celtic to another title next season, then I hope he gets to enjoy one of those really-treasured moments by lifting the trophy on the pitch in front of a full house.
In the past, he has given away a medal to supporters. But, if he could get that one — the ten — then I’m sure he would want it on the mantelpiece. Working towards that goal will already be dominating his thoughts.