THE government is in chaos, Brexit looks to be on the point of collapse, thousands are set to take to Scottish streets this weekend to protest the visit of President Trump and, in case you have missed it, England are about to win the World Cup.

All of these things are important of course; however, the Scottish football season begins for real this evening when Celtic kick-off in the searing heat of Armenia’s pretty, bustling capital Yerevan and this, obviously, overshadows all.

Theresa May’s troubles might dominate the news coverage but it is FC Alashkert that hope to be the first big story of Scottish football’s 2018/19 campaign by giving Brendan Rodgers’s men a scare, at the very least, in this first-leg of the first round qualifier of the Champions League.

Read more: James Forrest believes the heat in Armenia will help Celtic in future​

If the conditions have been mentioned once, they have been mentioned 100 times and with good reason. It is going to be warm enough for the travelling fans never mind the players who have to do a bit of running about.

From Morton to Molde, Celtic have been on the wrong end of a few shocks in recent times, which is why Rodgers’s Plan A is to make sure that when he and his players get on their plane after the match, they won’t be arriving to headlines about something really silly having happened.

Celtic will get through this and could easily win by a couple in Yerevan. But in football there is always a but.

“You always have to respect any team that is champion of their country,” said the Celtic manager. “They have been for the last three seasons and you have to respect that and respect they have good players.

“They went to the second round last year and we’ve watched some of that game against BATE Borisov, so you need to be ready and prepared, especially in these dangerous qualification games.

“Most European teams no matter how big or small try to play a technical game. In the conditions here, you are not going to be smashing it up the pitch and chasing after it. They want to look after the ball, that’s their nature. With the time of the season and the conditions, it’s a challenge.

“It’s football, these are nice conditions for coming out to watch a game of football. It’s a country and a capital city with over a million people here, so it’ll be a nice evening, hopefully, to come and watch a good game.

Read more: James Forrest believes the heat in Armenia will help Celtic in future​

“It’s great. It’s a 15,000-seater stadium when they normally get 6,000 or 7,000, so if there are a few more there, that’s absolutely great.”

If you are a fan of reality television shows about the rich and selfish, then you will know that the Kardashians (and I can’t believe this is appearing in the sports section) originally come from Armenia. Apart from that, there is another famous Armenian who just so happens to be an excellent footballer who almost signed for the current Celtic manager.

Rodgers said: “My only experiences of Armenian football was with Henrikh Mkhitaryan. I spoke to him at length when we were trying to sign him for Liverpool back in 2014.

“There were plans to come and watch Armenia vs Denmark, but he already had his mind make up that he was wanting to go to Germany because he felt he needed another league coming from Russia.

“He’s a really good guy, but apart from that, I have no real experience. What I will say is that it [Yerevan] is a wonderful city with great history. The people have been fantastic in our time here.”

When Rodgers first got into the group stage, after a hairy night in Israel against Hapoel Be’er Sheva, he spoke about putting Celtic’s name as a football team back into European football.

He was aware the club’s name still carried a romantic, nostalgic image which was nice, but said more about the Lisbon Lions than anything in the past 20 years.

Changing this has been difficult. The big guys have got even bigger and really the only way Real Madrid and the rest would take the Glasgow club with any seriousness, or even give them much attention at all, is if Celtic could start beating some of the top names. That is next on the Rodgers agenda.

Read more: James Forrest believes the heat in Armenia will help Celtic in future​

Rodgers said: “I think Celtic throughout Europe is respected as a football club because of its history and support-base, and with the last couple of years, and the years before that, when the team has qualified.

“So, we’ve had a good couple of seasons here with this group of players, we understand that it’s never easy but as long as we stay calm and focus on our own game, while respecting the other team, that always gives us a good chance.”

And with the captain in the side, Celtic will always stand a chance.

Rodgers revealed: “Scott [Brown]should be fine. He will train here, it was just precautionary really at the weekend. He will train this evening and hopefully all being well he will be fit. I think he’s a real catalyst for the team. We have played without him before, and played well, but he’s still building up his fitness. He is a very important player for us.”