A PROPER leftie leading the Labour Party and an unblemished Aberdeen side perched at the top of the league. Anyone returning to the UK this week might have had cause to believe they had boarded a time machine and travelled back to the 1980s. However, before the echoes of “McFly!” start to resonate around Pittodrie, Alex McLeish has offered the sobering assessment that he expects to be heading back to the future come May.

McLeish, a favoured son of that legendary Dons era, has welcomed Aberdeen’s perfect start which has provided hope there may be a meaningful title race. Yet, he cannot envisage that, for the first time since the inception of the SPFL, there will be a winner from outwith Glasgow when the ribbons are tied on to the trophy.

“I can’t see it,” said McLeish. “I just cannot see Aberdeen sustaining a challenge over the 38 games. If Derek McInnes keeps everyone fit then you have to think they might have an outside chance but you have to think Celtic will regroup and come again.

“It is healthy for the game that we have a level of competition that we haven’t seen for so long but ultimately it is difficult to envisage any team pushing Celtic all the way. Celtic will regroup in January and come again.”

McInnes’ side face Hearts this afternoon – 45 minutes before Celtic host Dundee at Celtic Park – in what is another opportunity to turn up the pressure on a Hoops side who are feeling the heat after an inausp- icious start to their campaign. While McLeish, pictured, is enough of a realist to believe the difference in squad quality and depth as well as their economic positions underlines Celtic’s expected superiority over the length of the season, he admires the way Aberdeen have gained their five-point lead at the top of the table.

It is that sense of belief and composure within the Dons camp which may unnerve the champions. Kris Commons, the Celtic midfielder, dismissed any sense of being spooked by McInnes’ men last season, maintaining that there was never a point when Ronny Deila’s men did not envisage a straightforward jaunt to the title.Whether he has cause to revisit that theory over the next nine months depends on whether Aberdeen can maintain their consistency.

“You can’t ask any more of Aberdeen,” said McLeish. “They have had the perfect start with 21 out of 21 and that in itself suggests they are mentally strong as a team. To give a player confidence, what do you do? You show him the things he can do well, the way he can play, how he can develop and that is what Aberdeen have done by winning these opening seven games. Derek has given his side all the evidence they need to believe they are a good team.

“If that run of form doesn’t make you strong in the head then nothing will. But the challenge comes in sustaining it over the course of a season when injuries and suspensions come around. These factors play such a significant part when you have a relatively small squad and there is no doubt Celtic have far more depth.”

The punctured belief in the Celtic side has been evident since that night in Malmo when the team froze at the final hurdle of the Uefa Champions League qualifiers, but McLeish counselled against writing off the Parkhead side at this stage of the season.

It says much about this week that the focus of Aberdeen’s win over Celtic lay with the Parkhead side’s failings rather than Aberdeen’s strengths. Whispers of dressing room unrest and boardroom meetings have dominated social media and McLeish, as a former Rangers manager, knows all about the intensity of being in the spotlight and has some sympathy for Deila.

“I have been in that position,” he said. “The pressure is immense and Ronny will never have experienced anything even close to it before moving to Celtic. There is pressure everywhere – from above, from supporters, from within yourself – but ultimately as soon as you get one result it gives you something to build on.

“Celtic are not a bad team but they are a team shorn of confidence. I saw them in their home leg against Malmo and thought for large patches they were excellent, especially the pace and energy they had going forward. But when you lose games, belief goes. Those players, though, are tough. You need to be to make it with Celtic or Rangers. There is a mental aspect to it that is as important as anything else. You need to be able to live with the criticism, take the flak and come back again.”