Stephen McGowan believes the mood around Celtic has shifted to the point where supporters may now be looking nervously over their shoulder at Motherwell, rather than focusing on the title race involving Rangers and Heart of Midlothian.

Motherwell’s form has been one of the stories of the season. They come into the final stretch having lost just three league games, fewer than half of Celtic’s seven defeats, and fresh from a thumping 5–0 win over St Mirren on Saturday night.

That run has quietly hauled them into contention higher up the table than many would have expected at this stage.

Celtic’s loss on Sunday was their seventh league defeat of the campaign, a stark contrast to Motherwell’s consistency. With both sides having played the same number of matches, Celtic sit just four points ahead.

While Motherwell remain ten points off the top with a game in hand over Rangers and Hearts, they will have a big say over the next ten games and will push the top three as they look to move further up the table.

Speaking on Graham Speirs’ Press Box podcast, Stephen McGowan did not hold back in his assessment of the bigger picture at Celtic.

“I think Celtic fans are probably now beginning to look over their shoulders at Motherwell,” he said. “You look at this and, let’s be honest, it’s a mediocre Celtic team and a club which is in a mess.

“It’s an interim football club. You’ve got an interim chairman, an interim manager, an interim recruitment operation, interim loan signings – sticking plasters applied to what is being shown to be a gaping wound. There should be an amputation somewhere, but it’s not going to happen.

“The guy at the top of the tree is the controlling shareholder in Dublin and nothing changes at Celtic until everything changes. Until the ownership changes, I don’t see what alters a jot at Celtic.”

There is a growing frustration among the support, not just about recent results but about the wider direction of the club.

With Motherwell closing in, and key fixtures still to come, the idea that Celtic could find themselves dragged into a different kind of battle altogether no longer feels far-fetched.