April 3 – The statistics are pretty impressive. Unbeaten in the league domestically, a sixth consecutive title and only four points dropped.
The problem is there was always going to be a yawning gap between Glasgow giants Celtic and the rest of the Scottish top-flight clubs this season.
Whilst no-one should take anything away from manager Brendon Rodgers, the former Liverpool boss, a far bigger story would have been if Celtic had actually lost the title, so much stronger are they financially from the rest of the Scottish league.
It perhaps should be remembered too that Rodgers began his reign with a humiliating 1-0 defeat at Gibraltar minnows Lincoln Red Imps in Champions League qualifying.
Celtic don’t exactly pull up any trees in Europe, bar one or two eye-catching performances, but domestically they have been unstoppable, the earliest side to become champions of Scotland in 88 years with eight games still to go.
Whether this is a good or bad thing in terms of competitive balance is questionable but Rodgers believes his team would easily finish in the top six if they were allowed to join the English Premier League, always a hot topic of conversation among fans north and south of the border.
‘Could we play in the Premier League? Yes, we could,” said Rodgers after Sunday’s 5-0 win over Hearts that clinched the title.
“I have absolutely no doubt about it because we’ve got the Celtic factor. We have 60,000 every other week. Without the money alone, this team would compete in the Premier League. This is one of the great iconic clubs in the world so there is no doubt that with this group we could go in and compete for the top six.”
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