Brendan Rodgers's theory off the field is certainly being proven right. Now the Northern Irishman and his Celtic team need to deliver where it matters most... on the field.

Eyebrows were raised and jaws dropped when Rodgers uttered these words after a 2-0 over St Mirren in the Scottish Cup: "The narrative around our team is that we’re not together and we’re broken. When you’re a winning club with a winning mentality … I think they’re trying to gang up on us now!"

Nobody would blame Rodgers and Celtic for adopting a siege mentality, especially, in light of last weekend's results. Certainly, the manager and the fans now believe that the whole world is against them.

You know something is amiss when Rodgers has a pop at officials as he did on Sunday in the aftermath of the defeat by Hearts  when he rinsed referee Don Robertson and VAR official John Beaton. If you have studied Rodgers's managerial career he has rarely, if ever, complained about officials.

READ MORE: Rodgers' Celtic were done over by a different type of VAR

Now firmly ensconced in Glasgow for a second time, Rodgers has got the feeling that everyone wants to see Celtic lose their vice-like grip on the Scottish Premiership trophy and all the talk is of a resurgent Rangers under Philippe Clement. Narrative and writing one's own story have been his buzzwords of late. If that is the case then the last few weeks have been a case in point.

A throwaway line to a female reporter Jane Lewis made international headlines as Rodgers was accused of misogyny and casual sexism. He later revealed he had spoken to the BBC reporter and she "wasn't offended."

However, Rodgers was forced to respond publicly and said: "Sadly for me, in society now we are either looking to offend or find something offensive to try and pin on to people.

"I find it saddening as much as anything because one, I am not that type of person, I can never be that, it's not how I'm built. But also, it saddened me for society now because people are just trying to find ways to somehow bring you down if they can. It's not nice."

Despite all this upset, with nine games to go in the campaign, we are actually at a point where Celtic could turn out to be the real winners in this title race. Rodgers will certainly further embrace the siege mentality and that might be no bad thing.

When he was the boss of Aberdeen and Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson worked the strategy to his advantage quite spectacularly. Rodgers will certainly be telling everyone who will listen that everyone is against his Celtic team - opposition teams, referees, media, everybody.

There are few things stronger in Scottish football than the Celtic collective. If channelled the right way, it can be a powerful tool. Bill Shankly famously said of Jock Stein's Celtic: "If he's got useful players and he trains them the right way and he gets them all to do what they can do well... the little things they can do and he merges them all together, and they are all helping each other. It's a form of socialism, without the politics of course."

Celtic Way:

READ MORE: Celtic legend Jock Stein remembered: Three Kings filmmaker Jonny Owen on the great man's legacy

Rodgers is going to have to rely on some good, old-fashioned football socialism and his Celtic collective in the dressing room to steer the club through this one. Celtic can only do it for themselves. Nobody else will help them in that quest.

The title race will probably be decided by the two Glasgow derbies that loom large on the horizon. Rodgers and his team must use everything that has happened in the last week to their advantage. It has to serve as fuel and ammunition for their final assault on title glory as the race for the coveted league flag hits single figures in games.

A siege mentality? It's a small wonder that Rodgers and Celtic probably feel that they are going to war every time they step out onto the field. It's been some checklist for Rodgers and Celtic over the last few weeks:

  • Being written off in the title race - check.
  • Branded a dinosaur and accused of casual sexism - check
  • Having vital players being sent off - check.
  • Crucial VAR decisions going against you - check.
  • A potential SFA citing for comments made about 'incompetent' officials - check.

Ironically the Hearts defeat could well be the turning point for Celtic's Scottish Premiership campaign and the destiny of the title. It could be the spark and the fuel that re-ignites the fire in Rodgers and the Celtic players' bellies in the title race. 

If Rodgers's self-fulfilling prophecy about narratives and writing their own story does bear fruit come May, then Celtic may well look to the events of Tynecastle and the aftermath of that defeat as the one that sowed the seeds of unification within the walls of the club's dressing room.  A form of Celtic socialism at work, you might say.

If Rodgers and Celtic can somehow reel off nine Premiership victories in a row then they will look to what happened this week as being the ultimate galvaniser for the reigning champions.

In football terms, Rodgers could couch it to his players as 'That Was The Week That Was' - without the politics of course!