After a seven day break that this time was spent at home as opposed to the warmer climbs of Dubai Celtic return to league action against bottom-placed Hamilton Accies this evening.
Trailing Rangers by a gargantuan 23 points the league is all but lost even with three games in hand and 16 matches left to play.
But plod on we must and tonight is the perfect opportunity to arrest a run of draws and games without a win.
Indeed we’ve only won 7 of our last 21 and our last win was a month ago.
The Accies under Brian Rice have been in indifferent form since we beat them 3-0 at their own ground on Boxing Day with two draws, a win and a defeat in their last four games.
Despite sitting bottom, all is not lost though and they are only five points behind seventh-placed Kilmarnock.
They definitely have problems at the back having conceded 47 all season which was easily the worst defensive record in the league until Ross County shipped five to Rangers at the weekend.
Upfront, they’ve hit 21 so are averaging roughly a goal a game though there’s no real dangerman to speak of with defender Hakeem Odoffin – who transferred from Livingston in the summer – the top scorer with four.
Of course, they’ll sit in and look to steal something or just keep the score down having conceded five in a 5-1 hammering the last time they visited Celtic Park on the opening day of the season.
Who’d have thought at fulltime on that balmy afternoon back in early August we’d currently be in the position of our season lying in tatters by late January?
No one I’d wager but that’s just the way it’s turned out sadly.
Off the pitch, the club are on the verge of selling pacey left-back Jeremie Frimpong for a reported fee of around £11.5 million to German Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen.
It certainly caught me off guard though apparently it’s been in the works for six to seven weeks according to manager Neil Lennon at a press conference yesterday.
Considering he only cost us £350,000 from Manchester City a couple of years ago that’s some return even factoring in the 30% sell-on clause that’ll be due to City.
I am disappointed as I was hoping he’d be part of a new-look Celtic team next season though let’s be honest no players have proven themselves to be essential components in this woeful campaign.
By all accounts, Frimpong has been working his ticket since November so if he doesn’t want to stay then sell him.
He has pace to burn but his end product was more often than not non-existent so in real terms, he won’t be missed all that much.
It would appear that a loan option will be sought to replace him with Motherwell’s soon to be out of contract Stephen O’Donnell also being mentioned.
One thing is for certain taking into account Covid, the fact that Neil Lennon is now effectively a lame-duck manager and that the season is more or less over in regards to the title then don’t expect a spending spree by the club in this window.
Indeed with only four days to go, it’s one of the quietest windows in living memory across the board which I guess was inevitable when you factor in the circumstances afflicting us all.
If any business is to be done it’ll happen between now and next Monday evening but it’s highly unlikely that anything significant is coming in.
En-route out could be striker Odsonne Edouard who continues to be linked with a big-money move to the likes of Aston Villa and West Ham being tipped.
Though we’ve heard this all before ie: last September.
However this time there will be a definite willingness to sell considering that the French hitman threw the towel in months ago and has been highly ineffectual.
That plus the fact he’ll be entering into the final year of his contract this summer which will significantly reduce any fee we could get for him.
I never thought I’d want to see the back of a class act like Edouard but his poor form combined with the fact we could really do with a big fee to help use rebuild in the summer means I’d happily drive him to another club myself.
Who knows though? Maybe tonight he’ll spring back to life.
Maybe Rangers will lose to Hibs tonight and begin to collapse as we embark on an unprecedented title-winning run.
And maybe I’ll wake up and discover that this entire season has been an actual nightmare and simply a figment of my imagination.
Alas that in itself really would be a dream as the reality is that the season has been a disaster and nothing is looking like changing any time soon.
Neil Lennon remains as stoic and unrepentant as ever batting away any criticisms of the board or himself by pointing to success in previous seasons as some kind of defence of this year’s catastrophic failure.
The board remain bunkered down blatantly refusing to accept any accountability never mind proving to us the support that there is a plan of action in place to take us forward.
Indeed they even tweeted a happy birthday message to Brendan Rodgers a sign of both the contempt they have for the fans and a clear sign that they are in agitation mood as opposed to appeasement.
It boggles the mind that it’s got to this but it has and there must be consequences.
In the meantime, the team need to start producing results and anything other than a resounding win tonight will be met with the contempt it deserves.
....Always A Tim! 