CELTIC’S OBSESSION FOR TEN? IT HAS BECOME A FATAL ATTRACTION
European progression is being neglected by a club who have sacrificed long-term plan Domestic fixation is driving decisions over squad... but now sales might follow failure
EVERY time Celtic take a step closer to ten in a row, the Champions League drifts a little further into the distance. After title No 7, Scotland’s champions lost to AEK Athens in the third qualifying round.
After eight, they shipped four goals at home to Romanian champions Cluj at the same stage.
Nine was no better. Wednesday’s defeat to Hungarians Ferencvaros in the second qualifying round was the poorest performance since Artmedia in 2005.
Celtic’s dominance of domestic football is absolute, but does nothing for performances in Europe.
By winning in Scotland, the Parkhead side can convince themselves things are running as they should be.
Yet there’s now a pattern emerging in the Champions League. And it’s becoming so familiar that journalists who covered Maribor, Malmo, AEK and Cluj can simply press F5 and change the name of the opponent.
Two or three days of blame and recrimination are followed by smashing four or five goals past Motherwell or Hamilton.
Another Champions League mishap is quickly forgotten and, in the obsessive quest for ‘the ten’, the focus returns to what
really seems to matter. At some point you’d like to think someone might look at displays in the Champions League, join up the dots and realise that the two issues are related. But you wouldn’t bet on it.
Celtic’s manifesto for season 2020/21 was written with just one issue on the agenda. The blinkers they wear allow them to see no further ahead than next summer. Their horizons stretch no further than the other side of Glasgow and doing enough to beat Rangers to another title.
There is no £30million windfall for winning ten Scottish titles. No special medals or trophies. Europe’s elite neither recognise the achievement or care. And, so long as the only ambition is to finish just one point ahead of their bitter rivals, the bigger picture is neglected.
Rightly, Neil Lennon has shouldered responsibility for what happened against Ferencvaros. But the incessant demands of supporters for ten in a row are the reason he returned to the club in the first place.
When Brendan Rodgers walked out, he offered a safe pair of hands. The pressures of seeing off Rangers were likely to be intense and, after the Ronny Deila experiment and a rancorous end to the relationship with Rodgers, Peter Lawwell wanted someone who knew the unique pressures of Glasgow. Lennon had been there and worn the shirt. And his appointment was just one of the decisions driven by a domestic fixation.
In October 2018, captain Scott Brown was offered the chance of a life-changing move to Australia.
Time waits for no man and, at 33, there was always the chance of Brown’s performance levels dropping. But the skipper had been over the course and had experience and leadership skills. And, when the pressure mounts, you need plenty of those for ‘the ten’. He was given a two-year contract extension.
Not everyone cares about local bragging rights, of course. And that brings a different problem.
Celtic might have spent recent weeks telling English predators that they want to keep Odsonne Edouard around for another season, but the Frenchman didn’t move to Glasgow to win SPFL baubles.
He wants the same Champions League window Celtic provided for Moussa Dembele.
Despite signing for £9million, however, he has yet to play a single game in the Champions League group stage. And a reluctance to put his injured thigh to the test against Ferencvaros suggests it won’t happen now.
History shows that when £30m goes down the pan, a Celtic asset is sold to cover the loss. No prizes for guessing who is first in line.
POST-MATCH, Lennon questioned the commitment of some of his players, suggesting some no longer want to be at the club. If that’s the case, then trying to twist the arm of unsettled players like Edouard, Olivier Ntcham and Kristoffer Ajer to stay for the ten looks a doomed strategy.
Ryan Christie is another who has yet to commit to signing a new contract. Yet, despite alleged commitment issues ‘bugging’ the manager, Christie was still selected at centre-forward ahead of £8.5m worth of new strikers.
Denied much football in the last year, Albian Ajeti is not match fit. Working out why that should be the case for Patryk Klimala is a bit trickier when the Pole had a full pre-season and scored on the opening day against Hamilton.
If — as suspected — the real problem is ability rather than fitness, then the question has to be asked. Who signed him?
Without Edouard or a fit and firing Ajeti or Klimala, Celtic could clearly have used the finishing and experience of Leigh Griffiths. The fitness and
indiscipline issues of a senior pro were almost as conspicuous the other night as the annual failure to put a decent defence in place for the biggest games of the season.
When it came to Celtic transfer strategy, people used to know where they stood. They bought players young and cheap and sold them big. When signings like Virgil van Dijk, Victor Wanyama and Moussa Dembele worked, they worked.
Yet, since the start of season 2017/18, Scotland’s champions have signed 21 players and just four of them started against Ferencvaros. In a financial climate crippled by coronavirus, how clubs like Celtic spend their money is more important than how much they spend.
With a budget five times higher than Ferencvaros, the Parkhead club have the resources to be a Champions League qualifier three years out of five.
Yet, in the obsessive push for the ten, that goal now seems further away than ever. Evidence of a coherent plan beyond winning a tenth straight title is hard to find.
Domestic success can dovetail with qualification for the Champions League. It doesn’t have to be an either/or.
But the thirst for ten in a row has become so all-consuming it drains energy and attention from other areas. Most of all Europe, where Celtic now routinely lose at home to teams with smaller turnovers they should beat comfortably.
On one level, failing to qualify for the Champions League is no bad thing. Losing 7-0 to PSG might be good for the bank balance, but it does nothing for a club’s standing. A defence which can’t cope with the rope-a-dope tactics of Ferencvaros is unlikely to live with Neymar or Robert Lewandowski.
If they’re lucky, Celtic will secure a place in the Europa League groups where they acquitted themselves well last season. And if they make it to ten in a row, all of this will be consigned to history. Plenty will think that the end justified the means.
None of which should obscure an uncomfortable truth. While Celtic fight it out with Rangers for the Best Dressed Man In Albania prize, the Champions League is leaving them behind.