HERE’S a variety of thoughts on Scottish football, starting with the probability that on Saturday afternoon, barring a reversal of fortune that would be beyond the incredible, Celtic will set a new British record of 63 games in domestic competition without defeat.

They need only draw with St Johnstone to achieve the record which, by any standards, is truly remarkable. Suffice to say it has taken 100 years to equal the record set by Celtic in 1917, and frankly I do not think the football world, and certainly the media down south, has given Celtic the credit they deserve for even equalling the record.

It truly is a phenomenal achievement for Brendan Rodgers and his squad, and to put it in context, the European record unbeaten run by Steaua Bucharest of Romania (119 league and cup games between 1986 and 1989) was achieved because they were the only team in town – Steaua were the favoured side of the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his family, and they got all the best players and nobody dared to beat them.

Funnily enough, not long after Ceausescu and his wife were shot by firing squad on Christmas Day, 1989, Steaua lost Divizia A to Dinamo Bucharest.

The real benchmark for Celtic will come tonight against Bayern Munich.

Get a result against the Germans and Celtic will be able to say they have progressed. If they are soundly beaten again, it will be proof that Celtic still need to develop more if they are to be European-class again.

Contrary to the thoughts of some, Celtic are not the only team in Scotland.

I’ve seen some claims – notably by Ibrox chairman Dave King – that they are only doing so well because Rangers are very poor by their own historical standards and Celtic have all the money.

Funnily enough, I can’t remember the same claims being made about Rangers when they ran up their nine-in-a-row sequence with players bought from abroad or England.

The likes of Chris Wood, Ray Wilkins, Terry Butcher, Gary Stevens, Mo Johnston, Trevor Steven, Kevin Drinkell, Mark Walters, Alexei Mikhailichenko, Mark Hateley, Stuart McCall, Craig Moore, Paul Gascoigne, Gordon Durie and the peerless Brian Laudrup – and that’s just off the top of my head – all played their part at one time or another.

Plus they kept buying top Scottish-reared players like Richard Gough, John Brown, David Robertson, Alan McLaren, Dave McPherson, Duncan Ferguson, Ian Ferguson and Andy Goram, and they also had fine players that were brought through the Rangers youth ranks like Ian Durrant.

They were so replete with talent they could afford to ‘rest’ Ally McCoist for a couple of seasons and still canter to league title after league title, while Celtic struggled and almost went out of business.

Yet not even that nine-in-row team could run up a sequence of 62 games unbeaten. It’s also an insult to the likes of Aberdeen and Hearts who at times have competed manfully against Celtic who, on occasion, rode their luck when running up the record.

The run will end some day, but Celtic’s dominance of Scottish football seems set to last for some time unless something very positive happens at Ibrox, like Rangers signing Derek McInnes as manager, or something positive happens at Aberdeen, like signing McInnes to a new and even longer contract so he can build the Dons into even better challengers to Celtic.

Which brings me to my second point: it never ceases to amaze me when I speak to football club managers that they usually know precious little about a club’s finances other than the budgets they are given.

If McInnes is interested in the Ibrox job, or indeed if he wants to stay at Pittodrie, he should take along not just his agent but a forensic accountant and ask to see all the financial books of Rangers and Aberdeen. For with Pedro Caixinha having blown £9 million and won nothing, how much is left of the playing budget at Ibrox?

And with Aberdeen pledged to build a new and expensive stadium, how safe are their player resources?

Chairmen will promise managers the earth when wooing them, but in the cold light of day it’s the bottom line that counts and managers should ask to be shown the whole truth about a club.

AT least Douglas Ross finally saw the light and, as recommended by me and a zillion others, he has called time on his career as an assistant referee in European and international matches as they interfere with his £75,000 a year day job as an MP.

Now that he has made that sensible decision, I really and sincerely wish the Tory MP all the best in his career - as a weekend football official. As an MP? I hope the people of Moray stop him at one-in-a-row.

IN this column some time ago I also excoriated Fifa and Uefa for their ludicrous stance on stopping the four Home Nations from wearing poppies. The poppy ban was both idiotic and insulting, and I am glad to see that they have backed down.

At last they have seen that remembering the dead of two World Wars is not a political act.