Fir Park has always been part of Stephen McManus’s football landscape, having grown up just a few miles away. The Celtic captain, though, never thought he would be laying a wreath outside Motherwell’s main stand, as he did three months ago to mourn the loss of Phil O’Donnell.

If something could ever unite two dressing-rooms, it was that unthinkable tragedy. Players of both teams stood alongside each other at O’Donnell’s funeral and shared the intense grief that accompanied the death of a man who wore the colours of Celtic and Motherwell before the sudden heart attack that killed him at the age of 35, out on the Fir Park pitch on December 30 against Dundee United.

However, today McManus can have no time for hearts and flowers. He must revert to the age-old football philosophy: the only friends you have are the people wearing the same strip as yourself. Celtic’s ultimate prize, the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title, is suddenly under threat after the midweek draw with Dundee United.

Gordon Strachan’s side know they can afford no more slip ups in the last ten games and no one has grasped that truth more firmly than McManus. The Celtic captain was not afraid of telling his colleagues where they had gone wrong last Wednesday, so he will not worry about hurting the feelings – or anything else – of the Motherwell side today.

“I know a lot of the Motherwell lads but every time we play them – it does not matter whether it’s your best mate or not – you still get straight into them,” McManus said yesterday. “This is the game to show we are still champions. There are ten games to go and we’ll have to pick up as many points as we possibly can.”

The central defender inherited the captaincy from Neil Lennon and if some thought he was too young, at 25, to exert real authority, there are plenty of Celtic players who will testify otherwise after listening to McManus delve into the Sir Alex Ferguson book of blunt speaking only minutes after two points were dropped against Dundee United.

“We had a few home truths after the United game,” McManus admitted. “I certainly was not happy with it and neither were the other players. I think it’s important after a game that we speak and get a few things off our chests. Everyone knows that we didn’t do well. It is just one of those things and it is gone now.We just move on.

“The pressure comes with the territory at this club. None of our lads will shirk it. I would like to think everyone in the dressing-room feels the same. We are going for the title and the Scottish Cup and we now need victories in every game for the rest of the season.

“The talk was just one of those things. It was not so serious that it came to blows. But whatever happens in the dressing-room stays in the dressing-room. That is an important thing in football.”

McManus knows that there is no such thing as a poor Celtic captain. Only an unsuccessful one. Having played a key defensive role in helping Strachan’s side win the championship for the last two seasons, he does not want the baton dropped now he has the armband.

“It is up to other people to decide what captain I am,” McManus said. “I think to be a good captain at Celtic, you have to win trophies. You need to learn quickly here, it is sink or swim. I cannot help taking it personally. That is just what is inside of me.

“I don’t want to be labelled the captain that lost the title. It would not personally be my fault. However, there is a title fight and its good for the country. The games are coming thick and fast but I don’t sit dwelling on things. You can overcomplicate things by looking at the situation too much. I have to look after my own game as well.

“We are judged by winning trophies, as we have done over the last two years and that is a measure of how hard we have worked. We just have to get the points every time we go on the pitch. It is going to be a battle between now and the end of the season and it does not matter how we get the victories, just that we get them.”

Strachan is equally focused. The Celtic manager also has to ignore a friendship at Fir Park today. Mark McGhee, the Motherwell manager, was the best man at Strachan’s wedding but in the build-up to any duel between their teams, they do not talk on the telephone.

“Every game is vital from now on, not just this one,” Strachan said. “We cannot afford any more slip ups. If we lose at Fir Park, is that it? You can’t say. You try as hard as you can to win every game. It is most important that we get our heads round that.

“It was not until I came home after United game and sat down and worked out the team and the ages of the players, that I realised what a young side it was. Aiden McGeady is 21, Scott Brown is 21, Evander Sno is 20, Georgios Samaras is 22 and Gary Caldwell 24; Shunsuke Nakamura is the oldest in the team at 29.

“We could maybe do with a few leaders further up the pitch, like we had when Roy Keane, Neil Lennon and [Dion] Dublin were here. All I can do with these lads is keep giving them games until they become experienced. Dropping points was hard to take but we just have to roll with the punches.” Strachan was asked if he was jealous of Walter Smith, given that Rangers are leading the league table and are in the last eight of the Uefa Cup. “I’d never comment on any other team but Rangers play to their strengths and have been a model of consistency. They have to be congratulated for what they have achieved in Europe.

“I’m disappointed we are out of Europe. I look back on our Champions League campaign with a lot of pride but I still keep thinking of the home game against Barcelona. I wish we had done better when they came here. However, when I think of the great nights, such as the one against Spartak Moscow, you will never get drama like that again. And the wins over AC Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk were incredible. None of those occasions can be erased from the mind.”

Strachan knows his team will have to overcome the notorious Fir Park surface as much as McGhee’s teams. “If it gets too dry, it could be a real problem,” the manager said. “I’d like bit of water on it to help it settle down. The game at Falkirk six weeks ago was the worst advert for Scottish football I’d ever seen. You could not keep the ball on the ground. If I’d been at home I would have switched the telly off.

“Sometimes you have to win the fight to win a match. We proved at Easter Road against Hibernian that we can fight and play at the same time. We can’t abandon what we try to do in football but you have to know when to play it and when to get rid of it.”