The Hoops survived a storm in Leith and continued their push towards the Premiership title

Batten down the hatches and ride out the storm.

Celtic have been in this precise position so many times over the last few years that they don’t need an amber warning or a named weather event to know how to survive in the eye of it and make it through to the other side.

So even though Boelo tried its best to buffet them off course in Leith on Sunday, they did what they always seem to do. They hunkered down and got back out of town with another three league points in the bag.

And yet, even though they’ve mastered the art of surviving the cyclones of their own creation, there’s a nagging feeling that, this time, it might not just blow itself out, like it has done all these times before.

Perhaps it will once more. Maybe, come May, the club’s supporters will be back congregating in Glasgow’s Merchant City, and celebrating a 15th title in 16 years. Just like they always seem to do.

But only if successfully protecting their own domestic crown is still the be all and end all for this club. And it is beginning to feel as if there are sections of the fan base who are simply not prepared to buy that schtick any longer.

Of course, they’ll take whatever trophies they can get their hands on.

Sure, they’ll have earned the right to milk the moment too having stuck with their team through another turbulent and emotionally exhausting campaign.

And If Celtic do end up emerging from the swirling ticker tape clutching on to yet another top flight title then the worst case scenario - of seeing it cross to the other side of the city - will have been avoided.

If this latest challenge from Rangers can be seen off then it might feel like a relief rather than a triumph because, in the here and the now of it,

There is little or no signs of progress being made on the pitch and no evidence of any kind of strategy being put in place off it.

More and more it’s starting to feel like the champions are only just getting away with it by the skin of their teeth.

Yes, the gap at the top of the table is back to four points as a result of yesterday’s win at Easter Road. That Celtic made heavy weather of it was really no surprise either given the wretched, billowing conditions in storm lashed Leith.

It was an error strewn mess of a football match and, in truth, Celtic’s performance was a match for the shirts they were wearing. A whole lot of beige.

But, on days such as this, all that really matters is escaping inside without any serious damage being done and that’s precisely what Celtic managed to do in the capital.

And yet, even so, it didn’t feel much like a cause for celebration and not just because Alistair Johnston’s long awaited comeback from the bench lasted less than 20 minutes.

The Canadian international took over from the injured Colby Donovan only to end up hobbling back off the pitch and being substituted himself.

All of which meant Dane Murray ended the game filling in as an emergency right back, just when Martin O’Neill thought his options for that position were beginning to look a great deal more healthy.

It was that kind of day for Celtic and their manager. One which would be better off forgotten.

Kasper Hogh was thrown back in O’Neill’s starting line up and he was blown around out there like an empty crisp packet for an hour or so.

The £11m man passed up a couple of chances along the way but, for the most part, he offered next to nothing before making way for Hasseim Hassan.

O’Neill stated afterwards that this was Celtic’s ‘best win of the season’ which was in itself an admission that his side was operating nowhere near its best level.

It was a victory earned with sheer will and determination and, in the final analysis, these do tend to be the type of wins that tot up to titles over the course of any league campaign.

Which brings us back to where we started.

So again, the question must be asked, is another Premiership crown really going to be enough to cut it with a support which has every right to demand more from a club which is itself twisting in the wind?

Three straight Europa League defeats point to a prolonged period of managed decline and the sight of a 74-year-old man fronting this all up and attempting to hold it all together on the sidelines, is further proof of this short sighted, short-termism.

Yes, O’Neill worked a minor miracle last season as he replaced Brendan Rodgers and then Wilfried Nancy when it seemed as if Celtic’s accident prone board of directors were hellbent on scorching the earth beneath their own feet.

The veteran boss was rightly lauded by the club’s supporters for making such a heroic and enormous contribution in putting out the flames.

But the bin fire was still smouldering despite O’Neill’s gargantuan, double winning efforts.

And this bin fire could escalate into a full blown bonfire on Guy Fawkes night, when Besiktas arrive in Glasgow’s east end looking to wreak further havoc to Celtic’s European campaign.

The big spending Turks currently sit in eight place in a 36 team table, with seven points from nine.

Celtic, by comparison, will go into this one in 35th position, with zero points on the board and with three of their next four ties away from home.

In other words, while qualification for the knock-out stages is already looking like a long shot, the potential for this to become an utterly humiliating ordeal remains a distinct possibility.

And if it does become even more bloody and bruising than it has been up until now, then the scarring is likely to last for some considerable time.

Another domestic trophy or two might help Celtic’s supporters to lick these wounds. Many of them might feel reasonably content if that is indeed how this current campaign comes to a climax, with Celtic still in charge of matters in their own back yard.

But, for some others, not even that will be enough to provide a feeling of satisfaction. These fans are doing little more than tolerating their club right now.

It remains to be seen if those levels of tolerance will stretch all the way to another title celebration. Or not.