Hugh Keevins: Push gets to shove? Deal with it?

It is now theoretically possible that 2016 could begin with neither Celtic nor Rangers at the top of their respective league tables.

This is great news.

A caller to Superscoreboard recently presumed I would laugh at him for saying it would be good for Scottish football if somebody other than Celtic or Rangers won the league title.

I had to re-assure him that nothing could be further from the truth where suggestions of laughter on my part were concerned. I agreed with every word he said on the subject of the Old Firm getting their comeuppance.

Old Firm fans always say they know their side has no divine right to win matches, but they don't actually believe that. If either one loses it is automatically the fault of the referee, cheating opponents, terrible pitches, the state of the world economy or any other passing excuse they can adopt to explain away a malfunctioning team.

Tynecastle on Sunday ? An all-ticket crowd for the visit of Celtic.

Twenty-four hours later at Ibrox ? A sell-out for the game with Hibs.

Watching the Old Firm have to bite and scratch to stay top of the league table in the Premiership and the Championship is good for business, and even better for those of us who get to speak to the fans on radio programmes.

It was almost too much for supporters of both Glasgow clubs to process last Saturday night as Celtic and Rangers lost on the same day.

The default position for those who support Celtic is that there is a witch-hunt being conducted against Ronny Deila and the media are determined to see him fall. But then you look at a sparsely filled Celtic Park and see a home side literally falling over their own feet and understand why Deila's side have managed only two home wins in their last eight games there.

The people don't turn up in the numbers they once did because the team is flat, the atmosphere is flat and there exists a possibility that the manager could perform the extraordinary feat of losing a league title in a division where he does not count Rangers among his opponents.

The Rangers fans, meanwhile, have gone from songs about Mark Warburton's magic hat to adopting a less lyrical outlook on life.

Hibs have now caught up with their side on points, having once trailed Rangers by seven of them and the forthcoming meeting of the two clubs could be pivotal in the title race.

I say this, as Warburton would have it, respectfully and while being polite about a transformation that has left me in the stocks awaiting a consignment of rotten fruit to be delivered.

I said Rangers would win the title by fifteen points. Now there's an allowable degree of doubt if they'll win the title at all. That's life so far as your standard football pundit is concerned. You put your neck on the block and then the executioners turn up in their droves when a premature vote of confidence in a team turns out to have been wildly inaccurate.

If Rangers don't win the title then they must gain promotion via the play-offs or the manager's job security will be called into question. That opinion was described as "Crass" by one caller to Superscoreboard at the weekend. I refute the charge.

If Rangers don't go up it will then mean a five year exile from the top flight of Scottish football, and I'm supposed to believe their followers will accept that in a philosophical fashion without any interest in recrimination?

Are you having a laugh?

We are in the midst of a season where, on both sides of the border, anything could happen. Leicester City top of the league. Watford trouncing Liverpool. Louis Van Gaal facing the sack at Manchester United. Deila now being openly spoken about as another managerial casualty. Willie Collum getting decisions right.

No, wait a minute, I take that one back.

It's the festive season and there isn't a happy man to be found anywhere.

Kilmarnock's Josh Magennis had a novel idea after being part of a side trounced 4-nil by Aberdeen on Saturday. He suggested players should have their contracts terminated for gross inefficiency. If that idea ever became club policy we'd have an immediate player shortage in Scotland.

It's quicker to sack a manager than a team. Just ask Jose Mourinho.

But players can't hide from having their deficiencies exposed. Celtic and Rangers were all over the place against Motherwell and Falkirk respectively on Saturday. Defeat was deserved and the consequences could be severe unless performances are improved.

That's the way the games goes. That's why two grounds will be bursting at the seams when the pair of them next play.

And if neither wins? You get what you deserve in this game. Deal with it.