It was only one game, and we're not even a fifth of the way through the Scottish Premiership season, so we really shouldn't be jumping to conclusions. Celtic are still 1/12 with bookmakers to win the title again.
But no question, Paul Quinn's late winner for Aberdeen's ten men against the Champions felt like a rubicon-crossing moment. The Dons were unquestionably The Best Of The Rest, but they lost all four of last season's clashes between the sides and it felt like there was a massive green-and-white-hooped gorilla on their backs. No more. Winning, and after Jonny Hayes' red card too, was a big moment. Add in a midweek victory over Hamilton and there is a five point gap at the top of the league.
Okay, so I still can't picture the Premiership trophy being lifted by Ryan Jack. But it's quite remarkable that things have already gone this far.
Some Old Firm manager - I can't find which on Google - once said that a Rangers or Celtic boss was only ever three defeats away from a crisis. Ronny Deila has only lost two matches this season, but they were terrible matches to lose. If his team have another thirty-one games to atone for the Pittodrie defeat, there is no such opportunity to salvage something from the loss to Malmo that denied them a Champions League Group Stage appearance for a second consecutive season.
With rather unfortunate timing, Celtic published their accounts for 2014/15 on Friday. For a club which has been run with fiscal common sense for a number of years now, it made for disappointing reading. Deila's first season in charge resulted in losses of nearly £4million. And that was despite the sale of goalkeeper Fraser Forster for around £10million last August.
The main reason for the losses was the disparity between Europa League and Champions League income, which comes to somewhere around £10million. Whilst Europa League prize money has been increased for 2015/16, that financial black hole will remain close to an eight figure sum. This time around, Celtic have plugged the gap with Virgil Van Dijk, sold to Southampton. If it's third time unlucky next season, who on earth can they cash in on then?
And as a consequence, year by year the squad is weakened, and it becomes that little bit harder next time around to get through those early season European games. It doesn't help that, at the moment, so many of his players are out of form. It might be simplistic to claim that Leigh Griffiths is carrying the team, but it's not entirely untrue. In midfield Scott Brown has looked lethargic (and possibly unfit), while Stefan Johansen's lack of positional sense has been woefully exposed by decent opponents and the continued faith in James Forrest is puzzling.
As for the defence...dear god. Dedryck Boyata's July was good, but since then he's been terrible - the pointless penalty he conceded at Pittodrie summed him up perfectly. Charlie Mulgrew hasn't recovered from a nightmare at left-back in Sweden. Even Craig Gordon has started to look uncertain as a result of the chaos in front of him. The defending of set pieces has been an absolute catastrophe so far this season, and Quinn's goal at the weekend suggested that very little time has been put into fixing this problem. Maybe deadline day signings Jozo Simunovic and Tyler Blackett (really a centre-back rather than a left-back) will sort things, but both are just 21 and almost all young centre-backs will have their growing pains.
The mediocre recruitment hasn't helped. Aside from Gordon and last year's loanee Jason Denayer, who else would you class as a successful signing? Stuart Armstrong maybe. Gary Mackay-Steven has been good in fits and starts. John Guidetti was great to begin with. Saidy Janko seems promising. Against that you have Stefan Scepovic (who cost £2.3million!), Jo Inge Berget, Aleksandar Tonev and Mubarak Wakaso last season and Boyata, Nadir Ciftci and Scott Allan this time round. The latter trio still have time to impress, but it would be a stretch to claim they are an improvement on what's come before them.
As for the defence...dear god. Dedryck Boyata's July was good, but since then he's been terrible - the pointless penalty he conceded at Pittodrie summed him up perfectly. Charlie Mulgrew hasn't recovered from a nightmare at left-back in Sweden. Even Craig Gordon has started to look uncertain as a result of the chaos in front of him. The defending of set pieces has been an absolute catastrophe so far this season, and Quinn's goal at the weekend suggested that very little time has been put into fixing this problem. Maybe deadline day signings Jozo Simunovic and Tyler Blackett (really a centre-back rather than a left-back) will sort things, but both are just 21 and almost all young centre-backs will have their growing pains.
The mediocre recruitment hasn't helped. Aside from Gordon and last year's loanee Jason Denayer, who else would you class as a successful signing? Stuart Armstrong maybe. Gary Mackay-Steven has been good in fits and starts. John Guidetti was great to begin with. Saidy Janko seems promising. Against that you have Stefan Scepovic (who cost £2.3million!), Jo Inge Berget, Aleksandar Tonev and Mubarak Wakaso last season and Boyata, Nadir Ciftci and Scott Allan this time round. The latter trio still have time to impress, but it would be a stretch to claim they are an improvement on what's come before them.
It is of course worth bearing in mind that Celtic won the league and League Cup last season, and probably would have completed the treble but for the Hand of Josh. But the European failures have cost his club an absolute fortune and helped leave them in a far weaker position than when Neil Lennon left them. Admittedly, there may be no way that Celtic can compete on a level - or at least only slightly inclined - playing field with the Barcelonas and Juventuses of this world anymore, not without ridiculous financial backing. But with plenty of clubs in far-flung corners of the continent now funded by crazy sugar daddy money - just look at the Kazakhs who knocked Aberdeen out of the Europa League - the Bhoys could now even find it tough to beat them, especially if a pattern of gradual downsizing and cost-cutting has to continue
Of course, Celtic will remain Scottish football's biggest hitter by a long way - at least unless Rangers find that all the millions from their IPO are hidden down the back of an Ibrox sofa - and they should still win the title comfortably. But there's no question that they are hugely vulnerable. Whether Deila is to blame is tricky to answer. But it's all happened on his watch. And how many Celtic fans are confident that next season's European campaign would be third time lucky?
Lawrie Spence (LS) has ranted and spouted his ill-informed opinions on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.
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