Ange Postecoglou will make a major statement on Sunday if he seizes his first Celtic silverware.
And, if he grabs hold of the Premier Sports Cup, it might just catapult his team on to adding the biggest domestic prize of the lot in May.
The fact Postecoglou is even in this position heading to Hampden is quite something given the situation he inherited.
Let’s face it, did any Celtic fan think the Australian would be able to get things up and running as quickly as he has done?
The Parkhead team still has a long way to go to become the finished article, but their rate of recovery is faster than most imagined.
Postecoglou had about four recognised first-team players worthy of a spot in the side when he took charge and was still filling up the numbers long after the season had already started.
To get the first domestic trophy in the bag just six months after walking in the door would be quite an effort.
It takes some pressure right off. Look at the way it piled onto Steven Gerrard when he kept failing over his opening couple of seasons.
At the same time, the injection of additional confidence and belief it would drive through the squad would be immeasurable.
I can recall it happened with Wim Jansen in 1997/98. Celtic were behind Rangers in the league and coming together as a new team when they defeated Dundee United to win the Coca-Cola Cup in the first half of that season.
It was a shot in the arm. It carried them forward and, in the end, it led to Jansen’s men actually going on and winning the title.
When I was at Celtic, there were similar feelings around the group in my first year.
Fair enough, the Final of the tournament was after the New Year in 2001 and we really had the league wrapped up even at that stage barring a collapse under Martin O’Neill.
Nonetheless, there is something special about winning a trophy together for the first time as a group, even if I didn’t help matters by getting sent off against Kilmarnock. It bonds, it galvanises, it makes you go higher again and increases the taste for success. Many of the players in Postecoglou’s new-look squad haven’t won anything.
To get that first feeling at Hampden will just fuel them for the months ahead.
Hibs, of course, will have their feelings on that and I’ll be most interested in how their players respond to the appointment of Shaun Maloney.
My old team-mate was a quiet boy in the dressing room, but he’s as bright as a button and he’ll have gathered so much information working with Belgium.
It’s a big move by Hibs and it’s a shame he won’t be in the thick of it at the National Stadium with David Gray the caretaker.
There’s two ways this can go. The Hibs players can be inspired at the prospect of impressing their manager at the same time as earning a cherished winners’ medal.
Alternatively, they might not just be at it. Look at the Rangers players in the semi-final. Having Giovanni van Bronckhorst in the Main Stand did nothing to motivate the Ibrox squad as Martin Boyle ripped them apart in the first half.
This is a huge opportunity for these Hibs players to right the wrongs of last season’s Scottish Cup Final, but it’s hardly rocket science to suggest Celtic are favourites.
You have to be impressed by what Postecoglou is getting out of this squad at the moment.
In the early weeks of the season, you could see he had a team who could be thrilling at times and would knock teams over heavily.
However, there was also a suspicion that, if it got sticky and tough, they might slip. They might give too many goals away.
To the second issue, they have the best defensive record in the league with the backline and goalkeeper Joe Hart keeping it tight.
On the first, they have shown they have some grit. This past week has shown us that Postecocoglou’s team can dig deep.
They have basically played the last two games against Motherwell and Ross County without a single striker and they have found a way.
The way they got it done in stoppage time with only 10 men on the park in Dingwall shows their courage and willingness to fight through a dodgy situation to emerge on top.
Anthony Ralston was a fitting scorer. No one epitomises a never-say-die attitude more than him and the way he has grown having been written off at the start of the season mirrors that of his team.
Celtic have shown they have steel to go with their style and they might need it again at Hampden depending on who they can get onto the pitch.
Postecoglou has already won the backing of the fans, but you are nothing as a manager in Glasgow if you don’t back it up with trophies.
This is a golden opportunity for the Aussie to get the very first he’s contested in Scotland.
If he gets it in the bag, it’ll say plenty about his talents. And it may well lead to even bigger and better things for the rest of his term.
