Cast your minds back to the 2017 Scottish Cup Final against Aberdeen. It was a match that not only sealed an unprecedented unbeaten domestic treble, immortalizing its winning squad within the annals of Celtic greats, but which also consolidated Brendan Rodgers’ position as unimpeachable leader of the club’s playing outfit into a new era of outright dominance.
And yet, in the 54th minute of a very evenly matched contest, Jonny Hayes broke clean through Celtic’s backline, and with his teammate Kenny McClean catching up, his square ball narrowly evaded the latter’s toe to scupper an easy tap-in.
Why even dignify this historical hypothetical with the ink its written with?
Because had Hayes executed what was a fairly simple pass, while he might potentially have robbed the support he would eventually call his own the following season of some of the most euphoric celebrations in the club’s history, it wouldn’t have altered much in the grand scheme of things.
Such was the rare united front coalescing around Celtic at that time – between the team, the fans,
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