Hoops’ Euro exploits are keeping Scottish football on the map
NO country does glass half-empty better than Scotland. And that’s not just because we drink a lot.
But the past week really has taken the biscuit when it comes to gloom merchants.
There are actually people in Scotland suggesting Celtic being involved in the draw for the group stage of the Champions League again is a bad thing for the game.
Bad for competition. Opening the gulf.
Honest to God, there’s no one like us. What garbage.
Seriously? Having some of the top teams in Europe heading on to our shores?
Keeping this country on the footballing map when our national team and the rest of the club sides are trying to rub us off it? Having the rest of the globe giving a toss about what’s going on in our wee country?
The crux of the argument is obvious. The strongest team gets another £30million into their coffers, so it makes them even stronger and puts them out of reach of the rest.
Realistically, how does that change anything? Celtic have the biggest average home crowds, the most season-ticket sales, therefore the most money anyway.
That would still be the case whether they qualified or not. And the key to this is there is only so much Celtic can do with their increased wealth. The Premiership, salary restraints. It means not a lot changes.
If Brendan Rodgers could go out and spend £90m to be reunited with Philippe Coutinho or use the cash to nick Diego Costa for £50m that would be different. But Celtic can’t. The environment means they are handcuffed.
They will shop, more or less, in the same market they always do because they have to.
What did they buy with last season’s cash? £2million on Kouassi Eboue? They spent that four years ago on Stefan Johansen. Kundai Benyu? Freebie. Olivier Ntcham for £4.5m. That’s only half a million more they paid for Jozo Simunovic when they were nowhere near the Champions League under Ronny Deila.
Incidentally, for the other deal, £1.3m was handed to Aberdeen for Jonny Hayes. Seven figures to another Scottish club. How is that so bad for domestic business? Rivaldo Coetzee is arriving on a deal worth less than it cost to sign Erik Sviatchenko.
Maybe Rodgers will get a striker worth a right few quid and Patrick Roberts isn’t cheap but, by and large, Celtic’s market can’t change. Sure they can pay the biggest sums for the most players but, as already stated, they could do so anyway.
Bottom line is they can outmuscle the rest and make it an unfair fight. It’s the case all over the world, yet it seems only we moan about it.
Take the example of Marc Ingla. Ex-consultant at Barcelona and now director general at Lille. He watches PSG spend almost £200m on Neymar and maybe another £200m on Kylian Mbappe and Fabinho.
He should be whining but instead looks at the bigger picture and talks about how it makes Ligue 1 more attractive, helps his team get more exposure and better players with increased interest, sponsorship and TV deals.
Sure PSG will win the title by a gap this term, same as Celtic. But only now more people will watch it, take an interest in it and invest in it.
There should also be an international spin-off. Gordon Strachan has discussed it already. We saw the proof with a
The key to this is there is only so much Celtic can do with their increased wealth
team made up of half Celtic’s Champions League-hardened players getting a June draw with England.
When Rosenborg were going through their incredible 13-in-a-row spell from 1991 it coincided with the most successful period in Norway’s national team.
Who here would have known a thing about Belarusian football or their league if BATE Borisov hadn’t played in the group stage four times in the past six years?
We’re the same. In far-flung outposts, where our games and teams would never be seen, they will see the Champions League and realise there is a place in planet football called Scotland.
As football’s superpowers milled around Casino Square last night making decisions about the future and how to kick small nations out of their big tournaments, our country was still hanging in there. We were part of it. Surely that makes Celtic being involved a glass half-full scenario.
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