After a long, challenging and in many ways costly 17 months Celtic fans returned to their spiritual home for last night’s Europa League tie with Jablonec.
If truth be told there was a shadow cast over the 5-0 win over St Mirren in March of last year. Matches across Europe were being played behind closed doors, supporters were aware of something very different and threatening but no-one could have predicted the scale and impact of the pandemic.
A year without attending a match would have shocked those fans, 17 months would have been considered a lifetime but a huge slice of normality returned with over 50,000 fans getting to enjoy a very new look to the club that has been the biggest constant throughout their life.
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On the pitch there were five players experiencing a full (minus part of South Stand) stadium for the first time. Joe Hart and Kyogo Furuhashi have been assembled from far and wide with local Wishaw bhoy David Turnbull enjoying two goals a year after his transfer from Motherwell.
The team came up with the goods, Ange-ball was welcomed as the fans got the full pitch experience and liked what they saw.
Postecoglou spoke earnestly after the match about the impact of the fans, the lift that they gave the players. Nothing stands still, next up is Hearts in a fixture that will have more bite to it than a 7-2 Europa League aggregate over a team from the Czech Republic.