15 Feb 2019 14:35:10
The expectation levels of some of our support is staggering.
They had whipped themselves up into thinking beating Airdrie, st mirren and st Johnstone ment that the pumping of Valencia was a formality.
In reality we haven't had a gd transfer window in recent years therefore our level is domestic dominance and a hope and a prayer when it comes to Europe.
The players brought in at January should be enough to clinch the title but with kt bencovic and rogic out and eddy not fully fit the Valencia game was always going to be difficult.
The summer is were the club have no choice but to invest due to the end of loan players and contacts coming to a finish.
Then will be the time to judge if our club are serious about having designs on acting like the big club they always claimto be or if they are simply just trying to stay a few steps ahead of our domestic competition.
Gone are the days of hoping to buy a squad of 1 to 2million pound players and developing them into a European outfit.
If we want sustained revenue from the champions League then decent but realistic money has to be invested to give us the best chance of that happening.
If that doesn't happen then we will all need to get used to Europe as being a bonus and not a playground were we can genuinely compete.
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15 Feb 2019 15:55:55
I have said on here a few times that domestic dominance is our main priority and Europe is a bonus and it really is a very successful and record-breaking time for our club during this time.
However, we do appreciate European football and have great memories of some brilliant nights at Celtic Park facing up to top class teams and taking a few scalps under WGS and NL.
Unfortunately, in recent years the cream of Europe have become even stronger and much more rich with the way the tournaments are 'fixed', but it's not so long ago we drew twice with Man City, beat Anderlecht away and won very important home ties against Zenit and Leipzig - so we can still compete - as long as we eventually learn to cut out stupid mistakes and lose the fear.
Last night's side was a few short of our best 11 and I think, with quality additions (and a clear-out) in the summer we can improve.
In the meantime, back to league business and sights on Killie.
15 Feb 2019 16:22:42
I have said on here before that attracting the quality of player, to what is effectively a one horse league, needed to take us to the next level in terms of europe is extremely difficult unless we can offer champions league football. To be able to offer champions league football we have to negoiate 4 qualifiers first. That is no fault of the board.
It depends on how you define a big club? In terms of facilities, fan base, honours won then yes we are a big club but in terms of finances then no we are not a big club.
The situation is what it is in that we have to do our best to get through the qualifiers in order to be able to attract a better quality of player. We have a sound buisness model in place which will keep the club in a healthy position with or without Champions League revenue.
Nights like last night and others this season will only benefit our young squad, yes it's a harsh footballing lesson but a lesson learned and a good education, add to that the winning of plenty of domestic honours, we're on the right trackðŸ‘.
15 Feb 2019 16:40:07
Oab. this window quality signings and a clear out. groundhog day. worst thing about Thurs was Valencia wouldn't make the top 40 of teams I've seen us play in Europe. we again beat ourselves or allowed ourselves to be beat easily by an ok team . terrible passing stupid mistake players not performing.
16 Feb 2019 08:58:33
I can understand all your point of views about financial benefits in football, and of course we're all devastated and thought things were going to play out a bit different, but it hasn’t. So get over it, we still have plenty to offer domestically. And I know I’m just being naive, but it’s never over tell the fat lady sings. I myself don’t reckon we'll qualify, but I won’t lose hope. I just think if we get an early goal then it’s game on! You are obviously thinking if we couldn’t score a goal at home we're never going to score away.
But we'll never know until next week. Let the next 90 minutes do the talking we have nothing to lose. And as the saying goes, the one's with nothing to lose are the most dangerous. After writing all this i didn’t know whether I was going to post it. Up the celts! We'll love them till we die, no matter what happens.