THE bookies have already decided the League Cup is Celtic's.

It's just awaiting collection.

Let's hope Ronny Deila's players don't fall into the same trap.

The absence of Nadir Ciftci from Dundee United's side is a huge boost to Celtic, as is the fact they have stripped their opponents of two of their best players by buying Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven.

But, any cup final is notoriously difficult to win. And the League Cup final has its own special history of throwing up unexpected results.

I've been involved on both sides of that.

We were almost unbackable to beat Partick Thistle in the 1971 final, even though our skipper, Billy McNeill, was injured.

And, of course, no one will need any reminding, we were 4-0 down at half-time before losing 4-1.

To be fair, Thistle had some very good players, and deserved to win on the day.

But it was more down to our approach. Proof of that came when we thumped them 5-1 at Firhill in the league four weeks later.

Perhaps the Thistle lads were still hungover from their celebrations.

The fact is, that defeat cost me the chance to be part of a Treble-winning side that season.

My last final as a manager was when I was in charge of Livingston, and I got to experience the other side of that particular coin in 2004.

Hibs were massive favourites to beat us in the final. They had the players, the form and the fans.

But we had the attitude and pulled off a huge shock.

Celtic have to forget about the Treble for tomorrow, and focus just on getting this first trophy in the bag.

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