3 Is The Magic Number

It's hard to believe that Celtic, despite having won 100 trophies in our long, unrivalled history, have only won three domestic trebles in that time - in 1967, 1969 and 2001. But recent history has shown that we really should have added to that number.

Back in 2003/04, a Celtic team almost as dominant domestically as the current one completed a league and Scottish Cup double - but the treble was thrown away in a poor performance away to Hibs. In more recent years the failures have been even more galling, with a mixture of bad luck, bad refereeing and poor performances doing us in.

With the landscape of Scottish football changing dramatically in 2012 the opportunity was there for Celtic to hoover up trophies domestically, but it didn't happen. During Neil Lennon's time as manager, the dreadful performances in the league cup against St Mirren and Kilmarnock were low points, as was some 'eccentric' refereeing decisions against Hearts.

The same problems continued when Ronny Deila took over as manager, with some awful performances - Ross County and Rangers - mixed in with more 'unique' refereeing performances - Inverness. There seemed to be a mental issue affecting the players, particularly at Hampden Park. But things seem to be different this season.

The appointment of Brendan Rodgers has made a huge difference to the players compared to last season - we've qualified for the Champions League, won at Ibrox, went on a huge domestic winning run - and most importantly in this context - managed to win at Hampden, something we have failed to do in recent years. The only thing left to prove is to win the treble, that will show that Celtic have really changed.