The first silverware of a campaign can be a huge confidence grower as a team builds belief and momentum over the course of a season.
In season 1997/98 Celtic stopped the Ten-in-a-Row aspirations of a now defunct but then dominant football club from across the City. The foundations for what lay ahead were laid strangely enough at Ibrox Stadium.
Celtic won the League Cup Final – against a good Dundee United side – 3–0 thanks to goals by Marc Rieper, Henrik Larsson and Craig Burley. And something clicked that day at the home of our rivals. A belief we had a team capable of challenging Rangers grew within the support and it transferred to the team.
After starting the season slowly including a 2-1 home defeat to Dunfermline Wim Jansen and Murdo MacLeod had slowly started to build confidence in a newly assembled side. Reaching that final and on the back of an ultimately fruitless but impressive showing over two legs against Liverpool in the UEFA Cup put in place the building blocks.
Winning the trophy saw the team themselves get a taste of what it was like to win when it really counted. It fostered a winning mentality that was to show its resilience with a last day win against St Johnstone to end a ten year wait for a league title.
I’ve always felt being the first side to lift a trophy that season gave Celtic a psychological edge, one that helped replace something of an inferiority complex within the club. Without that win at Ibrox in the League Cup Final I’ve often wondered what course history would have taken.
There is another group of players and supporters who won’t have to wonder, they’ll be about to experience just what lies ahead when your side just can’t get that elusive trophy and a monkey off the back.
Fans of the new club playing out of the stadium where that Cup Final was played will be the one’s now feeling an opportunity has been lost, and a concern around the mentality of their club will magnify today following a 3-2 defeat to St Mirren in The League Cup last night.
They too will be feeling a shift in direction of their season this morning, one that has started strongly. Given the habit, in their short history, of folding when the big occasion arises, it’s bound to remain something their minds will revisit over the course of the season.
READ DAVID POTTER’S VIEW…The psychological momentum is beginning to tip in our direction, the ball is now in Celtic’s court
For Celtic there is now an opportunity to drive home that advantage. On Sunday Celtic go into the Scottish Cup Final with Hearts seeking a 12th consecutive domestic trophy and a record-breaking Quadruple Treble. A victory for Celtic will be a historic achievement for the club and it will also almost certainly have a massive impact on our current season.
For players such as Conor Hazard, Diego Laxalt, Greg Taylor, Shane Duffy, Ismaila Soro and David Turnbull it may well be their first chance of silverware –should they be chosen to play a part- with Celtic, and with it the opportunity to inject that winning mentality into their psyche.
While across the City out title rivals will not be able to escape the fact, that even after Celtic having had a poor start to the season, even with their challengers apparently in disarray, it will feel like normal service has been resumed, like a movie they have seen before – several times over.
🎁 On The Third Day Before The Final…@CelticFC have won the last 3️⃣ Scottish Cup Finals in a row.
Here’s every goal they’ve scored in those finals…#ScottishCupFinal pic.twitter.com/v6yio6G00p
— William Hill Scottish Cup (@ScottishCup) December 17, 2020
They will see a Celtic side gain a psychological edge where their own mental strength will continue to be questioned by their supporters, by the observers reporting on the game and of course by themselves.
Celtic of course have to jump that final hurdle and drive for the finishing line. But if they can do just that momentum will swing.
This team will not only become history makers they can also lay the foundations for the new Bhoys coming through. They can instil that winning mentality by lifting the Scottish Cup on Sunday, much like that 1997/98 side did in the generation that stopped the Ten.
To lay claim to having a bona fide winning mentality you must first win, and games are not enough. You have to win silverware.
Celtic have an opportunity to build that winning mentality on Sunday, whilst today our rivals question their own. It is time to take advantage of our psychological edge.
Niall J
