The quality of Scottish league football right now is poor, let's not for a moment imply that it isn't. The majority of clubs in the top flight - the Dundees, the Hamiltons, the Kilmarnocks, etc - might struggle even to stay afloat in League One were they competing in England.
Celtic are better than that, but not much. And yet, the idea of the famous Glasgow club doing well in the Premier League is not as crazy as your initial reaction might suggest.
There was a time over a decade ago, when the debate over Glasgow's Old Firm clubs potentially moving south of the border was a very hot topic, that they could have made a smooth transition to England without makingmajor changes.
Martin O'Neill had guided Celtic to the UEFA Cup final in 2003 and the squad was filled with players of proven quality. Chris Sutton, Neil Lennon and Alan Thompson had enjoyed successful years in the Premier League, Stilyan Petrov later captained a good Aston Villa side, Henrik Larsson would turn the 2006 Champions League final on its head for Barcelona, while Paul Lambert was a previous winner of Europe's biggest club prize with Borussia Dortmund.
That certainly wouldn't be the case now in terms of immediate quality. And while playing in the Premier League is not something that is likely to happen, at least not in the near future, there is still plenty of reason to believe that Celtic could enjoy hypothetical success if it ever does.
The key to it all is combining the club's history and iconic status with Premier League money.
In Parkhead, the club has a huge home ground, smaller than only Old Trafford and the Emirates Stadium in England. That's more potential Celtic fans and bigger gate receipts on a home match day than Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham, as well as an atmosphere and a level of support that few others could hope to rival.
With a significant back catalogue of domestic and international success to proudly show off - the first British club to be crowned European champions - what it feeds is this romantic notion of Celtic Football Club. It would make a Celtic with money a potential threat to many.
As things stand, even the likes of West Brom, Watford and Stoke can easily outspend Celtic. That would all change and it would be the Scots, complete with their greater appeal as a much more prestigious club, who would have the best pickings of available players without the tight financial restrictions they adhere to now.
To quote examples of prices from this summer, the likes of Christian Benteke for £27m, Yannick Bolasie for £25m, Islam Slimani for £29m and Sofiane Boufal for £16m, would become affordable.
In the same way that Liverpool have punched above their weight in the transfer market in recent years to convince certain players to join, and in the same way that Manchester United are beginning to now, Celtic would have a notable advantage right from the very beginning. Premier League money would make it possible to finally exploit it after a generation in the shadow of English football.
The immediate struggle for Celtic in the Premier League would be temporary at most. But, even then, they have shown in Europe in the past, and again against Manchester City this season, that they are capable of raising themselves for big contests. In that respect, an initial period of over-achievement is plausible before the financial boost and associated effects of new, better players begin to kick in.
Celtic hypothetically in the Premier League: not necessarily champions, European contenders in time, but certainly competitive and not the embarrassing disaster most would predict.
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