THERE is a tendency whenever a team dominates to the extent this current Celtic side has for all their assorted successes to merge into one and become indistinguishable from each other with the passage of time.

Any self-respecting supporter of the Parkhead club would have no difficulty recalling the game that clinched them, say, the Scottish title back in 1979 or remembering how they triumphed in the league in 1998.

But ask him or her how they were crowned national champions in 1971, during their run of nine consecutive triumphs, or 2015, midway through their current streak of eight, and they may, initially at least, struggle to recall the fine details.

The Ladbrokes Premiership victory which Celtic finally sealed with a 3-0 win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Saturday will not, despite it being preceded by seven others, be easily forgotten. This has been the most turbulent, tumultuous and torrid campaign they have taken part in for many years. It will live long in the memory.

For a start, it is the only time in their 131-year history they have won the championship with a different manager to the one they started the campaign with. And there had been no fewer than 49 previously. Willie Maley, Jimmy McGrory, Jock Stein, Billy McNeill, Davie Hay, Wim Jansen, Martin O’Neill, Gordon Strachan, Neil Lennon, Ronny Deila and Brendan Rodgers all saw the job.

The departure of Rodgers - a figure who was, after going undefeated domestically in his first season, overseeing two consecutive trebles and winning all seven of the trophies his team competed for, positively deified in the East End of Glasgow – for Leicester City in February sent shockwaves across the city and further afield.

The adoration that the Northern Irishman was held in quickly, not least online, turned into animosity. "How could this so-called Celtic man turn his back on us at such a critical stage in the season?" his detractors demanded to know. There was anger, bile, disbelief, resentment and vitriol. “You traded immortality for mediocrity,” a Green Brigade banner at the first game after his sudden exit declared. “Never a Celt. Always a fraud.” Ouch!

The £9m compensation that the Premiership club received from their Premier League counterparts for Rodgers and his backroom team did nothing to placate the baying hordes.

No close observer of goings-on at Parkhead, however, was in the slightest bit surprised. Relations between the manager and the club hierarchy had been strained, to say the least, for some time. The financial limitations he was forced to work under had caused frustration. His inability to build on his unprecedented achievements had been the source of annoyance.

Rodgers’ carefully-considered and very public criticisms had, in turn, irked his employers. This, after all, was the man who had been allowed to smash their transfer record by signing French striker Odsonne Edouard from Paris Saint-Germain for £9m not to mention double the wage bill during his tenure. A united front was put on at the AGM in November. But behind the scenes ill-feeling lingered.

When a lucrative offer from an ambitious and wealthy suitor in the top flight in England, a league he had previously managed with Swansea and Liverpool and hankered after a return to, was finally forthcoming the man from Carnlough had no hesitation in accepting it. Was his loss mourned at boardroom level? The timing could certainly have been better. But the development was inevitable and ultimately suited both parties.

Rodgers’ compatriot Lennon, who had serendipitously left Hibernian by mutual consent in January, succeeded him. Lennon was the obvious choice to take over on a temporary basis. He was a club legend, had managed with some noteworthy results before and was readily available. But the situation he came into was far from ideal.

Still, the 47-year-old, whose return was greeted rapturously in a game against Hearts at Tynecastle that his side won 2-1 thanks to a late Edouard goal, has kept the squad he inherited, many of whom owed a huge amount to and had forged a close bond with his predecessor, focused and on track for yet another league triumph.

Some displays, not least in goalless draws against Aberdeen and Livingston at home and Hibs away, often fell some way short of what was acceptable or expected. But that had been the case long before their interim manager returned. The first half of this term had been, due to the aforementioned off-field issues, troubled.

The summer transfer activity had, the arrival of Filip Benkovic on loan from Leicester and the capture of Edouard aside, been poor. Emilio Izaguirre, Daniel Arzani, Lewis Morgan, Youssouf Mulumbu and Armstrong Oko-Flex were never going to improve the first team tangibly.

Then Dedryck Boyata had, after having a prospective move to Fulham blocked, not travelled to Greece for a Champions League qualifier against AEK Athens in August which his team mates had, in his absence, ended up losing. Cue another caustic Green Brigade message. “Boyata not fit to wear the jersey,” it read. The centre half did his talking on the pitch by netting the winner against Hamilton in the game it was shown in.

Hard on the heels of that unfortunate episode came the Moussa Dembele affair. A £20m offer from French giants Lyon was rejected in the final days of the summer transfer window due to a lack of cover up front. The striker promptly took to social media to hit out at his treatment. He was asked to leave training the following day due to his petulant demeanour and promptly offloaded.

A 1-0 triumph over Rangers, achieved courtesy of a second-half Olivier Ntcham goal in the first Glasgow derby of the season, immediately followed. But Celtic’s form fluctuated thereafter. They drew with St Mirren and Livingston away and Motherwell at home and slumped to a defeat to Kilmarnock on the road.

When Leigh Griffiths was allowed to take a sabbatical from football in order to deal with personal problems in December it was, while undoubtedly the correct decision, a further setback.

When Rangers played their city rivals off the park and won 1-0 at Ibrox at the end of 2018 – the first time in 13 Old Firm matches that Rodgers had experienced defeat - to draw level with them on points in the Premiership table some suggested the balance of power in Scottish football could be shifting.

The arrival of Oliver Burke, Jeremy Toljan and Timothy Weah on loan and the signing of Vakoun Issouf Bayo in the January transfer window, though, was a declaration of intent. When play resumed after the winter break Celtic were a team transformed. They promptly won 11 games on the spin, scoring 30 goals, conceding just two and building up a comfortable lead in the process.

Many players, not least Kristoffer Ajer, Scott Bain, Boyata, Scott Brown, James Forrest, Callum McGregor, Jozo Simunovic and Kieran Tierney, have excelled. They may only have wrapped up the title with two games to spare. But it is undeniable they are deserving of this latest honour given everything they have endured in the past nine months.

Eight-In-A-Row has been a fitting way to honour the sad losses of Lisbon Lions Billy McNeill and Stevie Chalmers.