OVER the course of the last week I did quite a few interviews on radio, almost entirely, as you might expect, around previewing the Scottish Cup final, about Celtic’s treble-winning and unbeaten season, and events in Lisbon in 1967.

There is no denying it was an utterly remarkable season for Celtic, Brendan Rodgers, and the group of players he has coached, mentored and squeezed every ounce of energy and dedication from over an impressive first term.

More than once, I was asked to evaluate this Celtic side from others I’ve seen. To be fair, the distraction of Celtic also celebrating the 50th anniversary of their greatest moment was an easy comparison to make, but also the easiest to answer.

Well, did the current Celtic team and their achievements this term come close to the heroics of Jock Stein’s all-conquering XI? Of course not.

However, during one interview, I was asked where I rated the current crop at Celtic Park. Just behind the Lisbon Lions?

No, not even close. In fact, I went further; that impressive as they have been since August, today’s generation probably wouldn’t even feature in my all-time top five Celtic teams.

What followed was something Mrs Merton often called "heated debate". Some callers agreed with me, others called me biased against Celtic and everything they’d achieved. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

But then it would have been a complete fabrication if I’d heaped praise on today’s squad without pointing out I felt there have been better Celtic teams, and some quite recent.

If you take the 1967 champions of Europe as the benchmark then, for me, the 1970 side that again reached the final of the European Cup couldn’t have been too far removed from the team that beat Inter Milan. In fact, through many discussions I’ve had with a great many aficionados, commentators, and players, the 1970 side might even have been a better team than three years earlier. Against Feyenoord, they just didn’t get the result.

When this season Celtic led three times, but were pegged back each time against Manchester City, I had to add some perspective to discussions with a few colleagues who were going overboard at Celtic drawing the £400m side from England’s elite league.

Maybe because I could recall the Hoops beating an all-conquering Leeds United over two-legs, home and away, in 1970. A Leeds United team that, like City, recruited the best available talent. A year prior, they had smashed the British transfer record to take Allan Clarke from Leicester.

They were full of international players. And Celtic beat them. Jimmy Johnstone tormented the hell out of Terry Cooper at Hampden. Does this Celtic side have anyone remotely as good as Jinky?

If English football is being used as some form of yard stick, then we only need to travel back to see what Martin O’Neill’s team did to Blackburn Rovers and Liverpool on another European run which ended in Seville.

That treble-winning side had strength throughout, but as an attacking force, spearheaded by Henrik Larsson, it was probably the most devastating I can recall. Leigh Griffiths, Moussa Dembele, Scott Sinclair provide the current firepower. But none is as clinical, or as prolific, as the super Swede.

As Celtic proved last weekend, they can play for 90 minutes, and beyond. They clinched the treble two minutes in to stoppage time against Aberdeen thanks to Tom Rogic finishing off his committed, determined run. Playing to the final whistle to get another victory.

A bit like the 1988 double-winning team in other words. Against Dundee United at Hampden, Celtic only equalised with 14 minutes remaining, yet still won in the dying seconds, both goals coming from Frank McAvennie. Roy Aitken leading, Paul McStay in all his pomp, Tommy Burns the heart of the team. Aye, they weren’t a bad team either.

And neither was the United side that lost in that final. A year before (as I mentioned last week), they’d been contesting a European final. Today, most Scottish clubs in Europe struggle to see out July.

Once he’d become a Celtic manager, missing the big prize cost Tommy Burns his job, eventually. He was, though, against one of Scotland's greatest teams of all time, and their manager Walter Smith.

The championship was beyond them and, for that reason, it is easy to forget just how good the team Burns assembled was.

I remember home games over a few years against Raith Rovers, Aberdeen, Hearts and Partick Thistle, when it wasn’t a question of whether Celtic would win but how many goals they’d win by. Pierre van Hooijdonk, Jorge Cadete, Andy Thom, Paolo Di Canio; Jackie McNamara and Tosh McKinlay bombing down the flanks.

I consider this one of the best Celtic teams to watch in the past 40 years. They were great. They just couldn’t stop Rangers.

And there we have it. A few of the Celtic teams I’d rate better than this one – and that’s without mentioning Wim Jansen’s "one in a row" team – but what a one to win.

An old editor used to say to me that there was no such thing as a new news story. It was just an old story being told to a new generation. This season might be a case in point.

Great as today’s "Invincibles" are, I still think I’ve seen better. But then I’ve been watching fitba' a lot longer than some.