Alistair Johnston appreciates why so many people who are ordinarily so dismissive of Scottish football are suddenly fully engaged with it.
The prospect of Hearts winning the title for the first time since 1960 transcends our game and draws in many neutrals.
Footballing fairytales are one of the enduring appeals of sport. Everyone loves seeing an underdog have its day.
That is, of course, unless you stand to lose as a direct result. With the title on the line, the Canadian is only too happy for he and his team-mates to be cast in the role as the bad guys if that means the biggest prize in the domestic game stays in Celtic’s grasp.
“It’s nice to a degree, you want to be the team that is the historical winner,’ he said.
‘You want to be a team that’s known for getting things across the line and never being out of it.
Alistair Johnston insists no one at Celtic is paying any attention to the outside noise
‘I get it. It’s the same over growing up in North America and other sports. You always want to cheer for the underdog.
‘They’ve got a chance. There’s no doubt about that. They just need to come to Celtic Park and get a result.
‘And it would be some feat obviously for them. How many years has it been since a team outside of Glasgow has done it?
‘But at the same time is that a trophy means just as much to us. You know, we’re, we’re desperate for that league title as well.
‘We know how much we’ve put in this season, to keep ourselves in it, to give ourselves this opportunity. We’re not too bothered what the rest of the world thinks.’
You’ve got to credit Celtic. When they left Tannadice defeated in March, for all the world, they looked broken.
Since that point, six straight league wins and seven victories all told have kept their hopes of a double alive.
You can question the quality of the current squad. The character they’ve shown to work themselves into this position is beyond reproach.
“I never felt that we were out of it,’ Johnston insisted. ‘We all know how good the players are that we have in that squad, one through 30.
‘So, I never thought that we didn’t have the talent to compete.
‘At some points you’re going to look at the table and go, okay, we need to keep the other teams in sight.
‘And we’ve managed to do that. We’ve managed to claw and fight and stay in this.’
Having come so far, they now want to take the final step. Naturally, they want to do it for themselves and for their supporters, but there’s a palpable desire to do it for Martin O’Neill in what seems set to be his last league match as a manager.
‘You can hear it from the fans, how much he means this football club,’ said Johnston.
Johnston is expecting a tough battle today against a Hearts side looking to make history
‘The fact that he’s come back a second time now, at his age, he still has that thrill for it and that rush of being out there.
‘He’s been great for the group. He’s always provided something. Whether you’re struggling or it’s not going great, you can look over and go, all right, well, you know, this guy’s still out here grinding away, putting in the hard hours because he loves this football club that much and cares that much about it.
‘So, yeah, it’s always a good motivational fact when you look over to him. We’d love to do that for him, this whole staff, and also just this fan base that stuck with us through a quite a difficult season.’
The significance of potentially landing title No 56 and moving ahead of Rangers won’t be lost on any who will shoe-horn themselves into the ground at lunchtime.
‘I think the Scottish boys would be quite aware of it,’ said Johnston.
‘For us, there’s so many trophies in this club’s pretty storied trophy cabinet. And if you can add one, no matter what number it is to the cabinet, and and etch yourself in a small part of this club’s history, you’re doing something special.’
