IN THE week which marks the 50th anniversary of Jock Stein becoming Celtic manager, the latest man to try and walk in his footsteps, Ronny Deila, hopes to deliver his first trophy to the club.

The mere suggestion that collecting the QTS League Cup and following it up with the Scottish Cup and the league championship would somehow earn the amiable Norwegian the right to have his name mentioned in the same breath as Stein does not even merit discussion.

Sure, Deila could become only the second Celtic manager to join Big Jock in lifting a Treble.

Martin O'Neill was the first to emulate the great man. But the much-lauded Northern Irishman would never have countenanced any kind of comparison with Stein.

Let's be clear. It is not Deila who tries to draw any kind of parallel. His knowledge of the club's history may not, by his own admission, be extensive.

But the qualified teacher has read enough to know that taking a Treble - rare an achievement as it is surely is - does not equate to the status of club icon.

Stein is the yardstick by which all managers of the club are measured, and by which all who have followed him have fallen short - some much more than others.

Even O'Neill, a huge character in the club's recent history and a massive favourite of a support which had feared the stranglehold enjoyed by Rangers would continue well into this Millennium, knows his place in the pecking order.

That Treble secured in his first season in charge was never repeated during his five-year tenure.

Two more titles, and another two Scottish Cup wins, along with a run to a European final were added to O'Neill's impressive CV. But that slippery League Cup eluded his grasp -three handles, or not.

Nevertheless, that was a success rate of which to be proud as it was sustained and it was substantial. O'Neill's successor, Gordon Strachan, all-but matched this haul, adding the first-ever appearance for the club in the last 16 of the Champions League - not once but twice - for good measure.

The League Cup bookended his time at Parkhead as it was the first trophy he won as Celtic manager and it was also the last.

There was no Treble for Strachan, and, to this day, that remains a regret for the chirpy character who has now turned his talents to making Scotland a nation again.

It is a bitter disappointment he shares with Neil Lennon, who also made winning trophies an every-season occurrence while he was in charge.

The man who, last summer, vacated the seat now occupied by Deila, looks back wistfully as though listening to Bullseye game show host, Jim Bowen, calling out, 'Here's what you could have won.'

The trophy Lennon simply could not reach out and grab was the League Cup as it became the vehicle for a return to glory for Kilmarnock, St Mirren and Aberdeen.

Indeed, through Celtic's history, it has very much been the one that got away -though, surprisingly, John Barnes and Kenny Dalglish can claim they won it during their notorious season at the helm.

Even when Stein's side was dominating domestically - as nine-in-a-row underlined - and flying high in Europe, it was their failure to win League Cup finals which prevented them adding three more Trebles to those of 1966-67 and 1968-69, going down to Rangers in 1970, Partick Thistle the following year, and Dundee in 1973.

Stein had initially watched his side monopolise the competition, winning the League Cup for the first five seasons he was in charge.

But they then lost seven of the next eight finals.

Even to this day, that anomaly has not been corrected as Celtic's record shows they have won the League Cup on 14 occasions, but been runners-up once more.

In fact, they have lost in the final more than twice as many times as any other club.

Deila can bring the score level this weekend. More importantly for him, he can prove he is not just a Celtic manager, but a winning Celtic manager.

The first trophy is often the hardest to get under your belt, and Dundee United will not simply stand aside and watch the Hoops boss enjoy his big day.

Deila will have to earn his spurs by picking the right team and the right tactics, factoring in who he is without due to injury and ineligibility. He has had nine months to prepare for this moment. Finally, he now appears to know what is his best XI.

More importantly, he knows how to get the best out of them, the days of square pegs forced into round holes and demands which fitness levels could not execute well in the past.

Likewise, the capacity to stumble on the big occasion - think Legia and Maribor - are also dim and distant, if still painful, memories.

Deila, like his side, has come a long way.

And it can't be over stated how important experienced course-and-distance winners like Scott Brown, Kris Commons and Charlie Mulgrew have been in dragging some stragglers along.

Today, Celtic are unrecognisable from the disjointed and dispirited group which crashed out of the Champions League and faltered through the first few months of the domestic campaign.

Fortunately for them, due to their European involvement, they were excused from the first few rounds of the League Cup.

Given how vulnerable they were at that stage of their transition, that may have been the biggest break Deila got on this quest for the elusive Treble.

Part One of which can be secured on Sunday, but only if they hold their nerve and match their superiority with sheer hard graft.

Anyone - inside or outside their dressing room - who believes this is already in the bag should take a refresher course on Celtic's chequered League Cup history.