The Clydesdale Bank Premier League table shows Celtic are just a single point clear at the top as the contest enters its third month. The illusion of a tight race is as misleading as the surface Celtic will play on in Moscow tomorrow night. From high up in the stands it looks like grass, but it is artificial.
Spartak Moscow away in game two of their Champions League group campaign is the hardest match Celtic have faced so far this season.
No-one tells a film-goer how many others are sitting in the cinema, and it is the same at concerts. At rugby, cricket, golf or other sports, the size of the crowd may be of some mild interest but the fact often goes unrecorded. Football has always been different. The most popular sport on the planet has a curious obsession with measuring its own appeal.
