I was out of the country last weekend but I couldn’t quite believe the scoreline that came in from Pittodrie. St Johnstone hammering Aberdeen 5-1 was an absolute shocker of a result, all the more so because of the way the Dons started the season.

I felt that when they beat Celtic and followed it up with a mid-week win over Hamilton Accies that they were a team who were going to mount a serious challenge this season. I have to say, like many people, I have always felt that that would be the extent of it – I didn’t think that Aberdeen had the resources to see off Celtic and win the league. I have always felt that no matter how impressive the start they made that Celtic would end up winning the Championship.

But the three defeats that Derek McInnnes’ side have had in succession have taken any pressure that Celtic were under away altogether.

As a manager at Celtic, I once lost three games like that – against Aberdeen, Dundee United and Rangers – but we still managed to win the league.

That, of course, was in an entirely different era and I just think the trio of defeats has really taken the wind out of Aberdeen’s sails.

Any pressure that Celtic felt has completely evaporated and it remains to be seen just whether or not they recover their composure and ask more questions of Ronny Deila’s side.

I do think that the result and performance over in Malmo when Celtic failed to make it to the group stages of the UEFA Champions League left a considerable hangover. Aberdeen made such an impressive start to the season that they were able to capitalise on that and I did fully expect that they would mount a serious challenge.

How they recover from their poor run of results will determine what level that challenge is but certainly, Celtic now will feel relatively relaxed.