24 Oct 2018 23:20:22
Im kind of torn. i love the tic playing in europe. its a different thing and takes away fro all the pish of the spl. refs paranoia etc and i love getting to see the bhoys play twice a week. however i really couldn't give a rubbish about it in terms of how little chance we have of going far. id rather we won the treble every season. i don't have a second team and don't watch a comp unless the mighty tic are playing. anybody else feel the same conflict or is it just me?
24 Oct 2018 23:41:45
Absolutely agree Gerry. In the past I had always hoped that we would get another manager in the mould of Jock Stein and we’d win the big cup again and whilst I think Brendan might be that manager, the whole thing is so rigged now that it’s just not possible and I just think, what’s the point. I’d be quite happy if our association decided to withdraw from UEFA and FIFA and operate completely autonomously from world football. I’d be happy to see other teams winning the league (not Sevco) sometimes. I think Seville 2003 was the end of an era. In a few years time European football will be so dominated by the big 5 that we won't even get into the group stages. The worst of it is that most Celtic supporters contribute to this by subscribing to SKY or BT who plough the vast majority of the money into the Premiership, Bundesliga, La Liga etc. We need to cut this funding or the gap will just get wider and wider.
25 Oct 2018 00:00:55
There’s no money at all in the domestic treble mate.
We can’t progress as a club, bring in better players, etc. unless we get champions league money each year.
In addition, our players cannot grow and improve if merely playing against inferior domestic squads.
We end up regressing to their level. So no disagree, even Europa League gets us playing at a higher level which helps make SPFL a doddle. And there’s some good cash too.
Additionally, we’ve a lot of fans like to follow the club around Europe and like to watch euro players at Paradise.
25 Oct 2018 00:57:05
Scotland is the bread and butter but euro football is great both for the fans and the players, personally I would concentrate on tomorrow before even thinking about Sunday. If we get out the group and have a wee run in europa and win a double (treble preferably) then I'd sacrifice Sunday. I think it's important to make a mark in the europa to attract better quality in January or the summer.
25 Oct 2018 11:00:08
It's very hard to admit - especially after so many great CL nights at Celtic Park in the distant and recent past - but we are currently not good enough to compete with clubs who are in the top half of European competition.
The qualifiers come far too early in our season and as well as the board being are very reluctant to invest in real quality, we can't afford the outlay within our budget - plus top players very rarely want to play in Scotland, unless it's a stepping stone to England?
I agree it's a challenge and an opportunity for our players to test themselves, but it has recently been a reality check on how far behind the top clubs we really are with painful hammerings.
Celtic belong in European football, but we need a squad of quality and not quantity to enjoy it and we need a clear-out.
The manager has repeatedly stated his intent and hopes for improvement in Europe and the need to bring in quality and I really hope the board have learned the lessons of last summer's turbulent and disappointing 'window'; but in the meantime I am more than happy to soak up the domestic dominance and appreciate one of the best periods of my 50-odd yrs supporting Celtic.
25 Oct 2018 14:12:52
I would definitely give Sundays game a higher priority, because whether we like it or not it's a realistic chance to win a trophy.
I used to enjoy European nights but at the moment I'm just glad to get out of them without getting hammered let alone competing in them.
It would be great if in the future we were able to challenge in Europe a bit more, but at the present time it's just about taking what money we can and concentrate on the competitions we can actually win.
25 Oct 2018 14:28:02
Not for me. Love the big european fixtures regardless of the outcome: win, lose or draw, what the h€ll do we care.
25 Oct 2018 14:39:55
I’m not going to disagree with any of the replies here as I also love to see Celtic playing against top European sides. I’ve been on countless away trips in Europe including the night we put Barcelona out of the UEFA Cup and most of the away ties on route to Seville in 2003. They are quite simply fantastic occasions and I have warm memories that will stay with me for the rest of my life. It makes me immensely proud to see our fans mixing with the locals and conducting themselves with dignity and I believe every time we play away from home, we add more than a few foreign members to our worldwide family. However, I think I’ve been blessed to live through an era when football was genuinely competitive and teams like Red Star Belgrade, Porto, PSV Eindhoven, Steua Bucharest and Celtic could rise above the rest and win the big cup. Porto was the last team to do it outside the big 5 and that was 14 years ago. They’ve carved it up and future generations will have no alternative but to watch this very small elite group of clubs taking turns to win it in a profit fuelled cabaret version of the beautiful game. It disappoints me that my daughter is unlikely to ever see Celtic turn over teams like Barca, Man Utd or Milan but it’s reality and the crumbs we get from UEFA for taking part in this charade are not going to allow us to ever compete with the big guns with their 100 million plus transfer fees. I’ll watch it and enjoy whatever success we might have from time to time but in reality, I think we’d be better off out of it.
{Ed007's Note - I hate to see Celtic getting beaten 7-1 or 5-0 by anyone no matter how much money we're earning from it and the fact that even spending £20-25 million on our defence so that it would only be 4-0 and 2-0 doesn't really seem that appealing either. I always look at anything in Europe is a bonus and try not to get too disheartened when results don't go our way.
We do need CL money but realistically we would need some amount of luck in the CL draw to get through the group stages, the EL is the level where we should be competing at least in the early rounds. It's a bit like someone asking if you would drink out a sweaty trainer full of lager for £100? Is the CL money worth the annual humiliations IF we qualify?
I don't want to see Celtic not playing in Europe but the problem is that there needs to be a major restructuring of the European competitions to allow clubs from smaller leagues to flourish and grow in the European game rather than just be whipping boys for the crumbs they give us.
I've said for years on here that the sooner they bugger off and form the Super Pub League the better things will be for the rest of us.}
25 Oct 2018 15:08:27
We are selling our quality players because they think they can do better in Europe elsewhere. We need to hold onto them but money talks and it is inevitable most will leave for pastures new. I agree we need the money from a long run in Europe and by selling our top players it is making it harder each year.
25 Oct 2018 15:43:03
I agree that we should try and hold onto our top players and I think we have done fairly well giving the vast financial resources of teams from other associations. However, holding on to guys like Dembele or Armstrong makes no difference when your trying to compete with PSG, Barca, Man City etc. As Ed pointed out, an investment of £25M in our defence only reduces a 7-1 scudding by a couple of goals. To really compete, we’d have to invest £100M and increase our wage bill to about £150M/ year. That would bankrupt us so I’d be more inclined to say, keep your phoney competition to yourself. But I’ll repeat what I said before, if we all stop subscribing to the TV companies that finance the big teams, the game changes.
25 Oct 2018 16:37:46
Some good points. The moaning of life.
Every moan we have regarding the big CL well financed teams is the pot calling the kettle black in domestic football.
We put out 12 times the player value against St Johnstone and about 25 times the salaries and win 6-0 and think that’s fine.
But it’s not fine if it’s Real Madrid doing it to us.
25 Oct 2018 16:35:30
What kind of lager ed.
25 Oct 2018 17:05:00
The difference here though is that we generated the revenue through greater crowds and more shirt sales etc. on a level (ish) playing field with other Scottish teams. Almost every association in Europe has a couple of clubs who, over the years, managed to get to the top, domestically, through honest endeavour and most have had their day of glory at one point or another against the European big boys. That in my opinion, is healthy competition. What’s currently happening at the top of the game is a total carve up by the big 5 and the television companies and other marketeers who know they can make massive profits from creating this elite group of teams and sell the TV rights and merchandising rights worldwide. They are actively trying to kill off teams like Celtic because we are a nuisance to them. They’d much prefer Scottish kids to grow up supporting Man Utd or Barcelona and unfortunately, they’re succeeding.