It's perhaps preferable to witnessing Rangers winning the league on their own patch.
But interim manager John Kennedy could do without the chatter around Celtic potentially giving their rivals a guard of honour in Sunday's derby.
After all, for all the times the gesture is held up as an unquestionable beacon of sporting morality, its application is flaky at best.
For instance, should it always be the first game after mathematically sealing the title? Or perhaps it's better suited to trophy day in the final home game - maybe even flag day the following season.
And of course, there's the fact the newly crowned champions skipped the traditional gesture less than two years ago. But they certainly weren't the first.
Here are six prominent guards of honour that bear a strong significance.
Chelsea and United
We'll start with one south of the border and the example that really brought the guard of honour into the mainstream.
Led by genius coach Jose Mourinho, Chelsea roared to the Premier League title with just one loss all season.
Their incredible defence allowed just 15 goals over the course to smash all kinds of UK and European records.
Manchester United, meanwhile, had endured a poor campaign by their standards. Not only had they failed to reclaim the title but they'd finished 18 points behind the Stamford Bridge side and wound up in third behind Arsenal.
So the decision taken to line up and applaud the champions onto the pitch - at Old Trafford, no less - really struck a chord.
Particularly with Brendan Rodgers, who this week said: "I can never forget when I was at Chelsea as a young coach and in that first season with Jose Mourinho they won the title.
“I remember going to Old Trafford to watch the game and I’m sure that the United players didn’t want to do it.
"That must have been really, really difficult but it showed you the class of Sir Alex and showed you the humility of him."
Aberdeen are first of the nine
Now to Scottish football, and where better to start than at the beginning of Celtic's mammoth title run.
They might not have finished the job in terms of the holy grail of 10 In A Row but nine league titles - many of them won with plenty of the season left to play - adds up to a lot of clapping.
The champions walked out at the start of the 2012/13 season preparing for the strange scenario of facing years in the league without the presence of rivals Rangers.
And on the opening day of that campaign, Aberdeen were the first team to line up and applaud the Hoops stars onto the park.
A familiar feeling
You can forgive Hearts for looking a tad disinterested in the above photo.
The final league fixture of 2018/19 was a warm-up for the Scottish Cup Final the following week with both teams sending out second string XIs.
Not only that, but this was the third time in as many seasons they'd been part of the ritual in matches involving Celtic.
Ian Cathro's Jambos were more enthusiastic in 2016/17 against the backdrop of a full stadium tifo at Celtic Park to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Lisbon Lions' heroic achievement.
However there were some dissenting voices at Tynecastle the following year - old heads Christophe Berra and Steven Naismith in particular.
And by the third time the entirety of Craig Levein's starting XI refused to clap, although they did still form the traditional tunnel.
Rangers 'break tradition'
Before the men in maroon travelled to Parkhead, however, questions abounded as to whether Steven Gerrard's side would offer their rivals the gesture.
The rather unsurprising answer was no, as Gerrard insisted the call came from higher up the club in 2019.
That prompted a response from manager Neil Lennon, who argued his side would have handled it differently had the shoe been on the other foot.
With the benefit of hindsight, it probably would have been best for the Irishman to sidestep the query.
He said: "It’s a break from tradition. I think we would have done it if the shoe had been on the other foot. But it’s not a major issue.
"It would have been a touch of class if they did it. I’m disappointed they are not.
" Celtic would have done it."
Of course, it's no longer Lennon's problem as he was sacked last month - Kennedy might expect a reminder of those past comments in the build-up this week.
Jambos applauded at Ibrox...
Hearts might have come full circle under Ann Budge as they attempt to escape the Championship for the second time under her reign.
But back in 2014/15 they had one of their most enjoyable seasons to date - blitzing Rangers and city rivals Hibs in the second tier and sewing up the title by the end of March.
And on their first visit to Ibrox the hosts lined up to applaud Robbie Neilson's side in a solid showing of respect.
It might have got to the visitors' heads as they fell to a 2-1 defeat on the day - not that it mattered to the 4000 Jambos in attendance who were in a mood to party in the April sunshine.
They weren't joined by either of their title rivals as the Gers saw off Hibs in the play-offs before a 6-1 aggregate defeat to Motherwell in the final.
...but Hibs refuse
However, Rangers would go on to complete the job the following season.
Mark Warburton's side would travel to Easter Road in April 2016 having scooped the league title a fortnight prior.
In between the two league fixtures were the Scottish Cup semi-finals, in which the Ibrox side saw off Celtic while Hibs snuck past Dundee United on penalties.
So all eyes were on the dress rehearsal under the Wednesday night lights in Leith.
But home boss Alan Stubbs insisted there was no need to go through the pre-match charade just to show his team were gracious in losing the league.
He said: “We’re not going to be getting wrapped up in all that. You’ll just have to wait and see.
“If you’re talking about honour, I was probably the first one to ring Mark and David right after the Dumbarton game. It was half 10 at night.
“I actually spoke to them both personally, I didn’t want to just leave a voicemail. I wished them all the best, congratulated them, told them how well I thought they’d done this season. They’ve been the better team over the season.
“So I think that’s quite honourable."
