Time for others to follow Old Firm Euro lead
AFTER every Celtic or Rangers Euro victory, fans of the rest were repeatedly told they should be happy because it was “good for Scottish football”.
That perceived patronising prompt would receive a shrug of the shoulders and many would continue to be nonplussed by the next triumph, and join in the pile-on should one of our big two be on the end of a continental hiding.
That’s generally how football rivalry works but there was virtually no tangible collective benefit of them “doing the country proud”. Until now.
Rangers’ stunning triumph over Braga in the Europa League, with Celtic hoping to join them tonight by finishing off Copenhagen, has ensured Scotland will finish inside the top 15 of the UEFA coefficient ranking, which means an extra Champions League place in 2021/22.
Given that ranking is based almost exclusively on the Glasgow two’s impressive results, it would be churlish of rivals to dismiss the scale of the achievement.
The opportunity to maybe get a chance to sit at the top table of Europe isn’t likely to be afforded to those clubs who tend to reside between third and 12th in the top flight.
But the benefits will be felt further down the table, with a fifth Euro spot up for grabs.
Currently, third in the league and the Scottish Cup winners enter the Europa League qualifiers. I say Scottish Cup winners but fourth spot has become a defacto Euro slot given Celtic’s dominance of, well, everything.
But from 2021/22 the Conference League is set to kick off. That means whoever finishes third and fourth in the Premiership entering into the second qualifying round and the Scottish Cup winners in the third qualifying round in Europe.
And it’s the stage at which our lads enter the qualifying rounds that could be the biggest boost, while also torpedoing a commonly used excuse.
There’s no doubt that playing European games before other clubs’ pre-season is finished is less than ideal.
The summer break seems to get shorter and
The benefits will be felt further down the table, with a fifth Euro spot up for grabs
shorter, with Scottish clubs pitched into big games against minnows before they are anywhere near up to speed, sometimes against clubs midway through their summer season.
But that excuse doesn’t wash given some of the embarrassing results suffered. If this is to be a long-term European game for Scotland then the “shocks” have to stop.
These European places will only be available as long as the coefficient ranking remains high enough. Regardless of whether you cheer them on or love to see them taken apart, there’s no denying Rangers and Celtic have done their bit.
Now the others need to do theirs as well.