If you are fortunate enough to get so far, you’ll see a lot in 1014 matches in football management.
Scores of games which are forgotten almost as soon as they are over. Cup Finals, derbies, European nights.
Since sitting in a dugout for the first time in the late 1980s, Martin O’Neill has pretty much crossed them all off.
Even for a man who took Celtic to Seville and who has experience of last-day shoot-outs, a straight title decider feels as big as anything that’s gone before.
‘In terms of the games?’ he said. ‘Oh yeah, I think so.
‘It’s a title decider. Absolutely.’
Celtic manager Martin O’Neill has urged his players to seize the initiative against Hearts
The extraordinary events of Wednesday evening at Fir Park simplified the equation. A Celtic win by any margin will see them pip Hearts at the post.
As preferable as that scenario is to be chasing the three goals which would have been required if Kelechi Iheanacho hadn’t converted from 12 yards, the situation is still fraught with danger.
Having already beaten Celtic home and away this season, Derek McInnes’ side will walk out into a cauldron having scored in 11 of the past 12 games and having taken 13 points from a possible 15 against top-six opposition. It’s title-winning form.
With six successive league wins chalked up for the first time this season, O’Neill’s side are also in a much better place than two months back.
Yet there remains a defensive frailty too them. One clean sheet in nine matches, 11 goals conceded in that run.
Even if Celtic manage to go ahead, Hearts will know that defending a lead is not their strong suit.
Unable to contemplate the possibility of trying to protect a slender advantage, O’Neill’s message to his players will be clear.
‘We have to win it, Hearts don’t,’ he added.
“So, the advantage is with them in that aspect, but we’re going out on just all guns blazing to try to win.
‘Wouldn’t it be ridiculous, almost pathetic of us, if we didn’t have a real go at trying to win a final game?
O’Neill is looking forward to doing battle with Hearts boss Derek McInnes for the last time
‘We’ll have to take risks in the game. We could find ourselves, trying to get forward, hit on the break or something, I guess, and Hearts scoring. But that’s the nature of it.
‘We’ve come from behind on Sunday, come from behind on Wednesday evening and we may have to do it again.’
There’s a personal aspect to this for O’Neill, one which will have crossed his mind in the past two days.
In his first spell in Glasgow, he won three titles by landslide margins and lost two to Rangers on the final day.
He’s never quite come terms with the circumstances of the latter of those which flipped in the closing two minutes at Fir Park in 2005.
He now either bookends his three tenures with a victory which would heal that physiological wound, or he’ll have another gasp-gasp near-miss to add to the pile.
‘That’s like a different time,’ he insisted. ‘That was in the era that I was in charge of the side and there were some great, great moments and some disappointments.
‘Obviously the two were, the day at Kilmarnock (2003) and the day at Motherwell (2005).
‘But no, I see this as something separate. Almost as if you’re out looking in at times.’
It’s not just the fact that this drama will be decided by two sides fighting it out at the same venue which distinguishes it from those final day jousts of yesteryear.
Kelechi Iheanacho had ice in his veins as he stepped up to net the winner against Motherwell
The prospect of Hearts becoming the first non-Old Firm side to win the title in 41 years is a story which has captured the attention of many beyond these shores.
Aside from Celtic and Hibernian supporters, there’s an understandable desire to see an underdog prevail. O’Neill understands this.
“Absolutely,’ he added. ‘I said months ago on the radio that Hearts winning the league wouldn’t be good for Celtic or Rangers, but that Hearts being up there was a really good story.
“People down south are taking notice of Scottish football, which they haven’t for ages.’
How does he feel about being the man who so many without skin in the game would like to see fail?
‘I don’t consider myself the villain. Quite the opposite,’ he smiled.
‘I consider myself hard done by…and this is definitely my paranoia coming back, which I thought had disappeared in 2005 when I left Celtic.
‘Unbelievably, it has come racing back, but I’ll get over it.’
It’s his contention that this recent wave of support for Hearts from neutrals was central to the narrative which came after Fir Park.
Belatedly penalised after VAR intervened, Sam Nicholson’s handball almost started an international incident with Gary Lineker among those to condemn the call.
Referee John Beaton has come in for fierce criticism following his decision on Wednesday
The Celtic manager believes the reaction of so many can largely be attributed to timing.
‘To me, in terms of the rules, it’s not really a debate,’ he said.
‘It was relatively clear cut. You can debate the whys and wherefores of what’s happening and FIFA and UEFA should look at it, because it’s not great at all. But as we stand, these are the rules.’
Given the incident closed the gap to a single point, he gets why Hearts would be frustrated as seeing their task made more difficult.
Yet O’Neill feels there must be a wider view of how this has all unfolded.
‘If you want to go back to Easter Road, the Hibs player (Joe Newell) handled the ball and they got a goal from it,’ he stated.
‘That was clear-cut and we didn’t get it. VAR decided it was fine.
‘When we lost to Hibs, Liam Scales should have had a penalty, and we didn’t get that either.
‘People talk about the Alistair Johnston tackle against Rangers. I thought he was lucky.
‘But then people think we should have had a penalty against Motherwell for Daizen Maeda being charged in the back.
O’Neil pointed to Joe Newell’s equaliser for Hibs as a decision which went against his side
‘If you look back over the course of the season, the top three sides have had decisions go for them and against them.
‘I’m not saying things level themselves out. I wouldn’t make that argument with a couple of games left.
‘But the reason there’s been a big furore is because it’s the end of the season.
‘If this happened in October you wouldn’t have heard a word.’
Given the high stakes, he has no real issue with McInnes describing the award as ‘disgusting’.
‘In the heat of the moment he’s come out and had a go,’ said the Celtic boss.
‘But when he looks at it, if it had been awarded for him, he would have been happy enough to take it.’
What’s gone is gone. A game for the ages awaits. The fervent hope is that it will be remembered for all the right reasons.
