Scottish clubs should support Celtic in Europe
AFORMER martial arts world champion, Kuat Khamitov is second only to Borat on a list of Kazakhstan’s big hitters. And Astana’s Champions League defeat to Celtic displeased him greatly.
‘This defeat proves football should be banned in Kazakhstan,’ raged the great man.
‘Even those dying of hunger in Africa would show more fight than the players of Astana.’
Comparing famine in Africa to the loss of a game of football exhibits a spectacular lack of perspective.
But Scottish fans can relate to the disgust over poor results in Europe. Let’s be blunt; we know how the bold Kuat feels.
Euro exits before the first week of August are now the rule rather than the exception. Only Latvia has witnessed a more calamitous slide down the club coefficient rankings.
It’s five years since the SPFL last held the right to enter two clubs into the Champions League. Seven years since our champions were actually still granted direct qualification into the group stage.
The financial calamity at Rangers allied to UEFA gerrymandering didn’t help. But Scottish clubs are now locked in a vicious circle they can’t escape.
The further they fall in the coefficient rankings, the more qualifiers they have to play. The more qualifiers they have to play, the earlier the season starts. And the earlier the season starts, the less prepared they are for European qualifiers.
St Johnstone lost to Lithuanian opposition at the first hurdle. Rangers suffered the most humiliating European defeat in their history against a team of Luxembourg no-marks. Aberdeen pulled off one decent result in Bosnia — but then slid to defeat in Cyprus.
All of which makes the slightly grudging response to Celtic’s qualification for the Champions League group stage a strange affair.
No one expects gratitude. And neither should they.
But the Parkhead side have spent years being told that early exits from the Champions League are bad for Scottish football.
Now they stand accused of doing the national game no favours when they actually win.
You can understand the logic. Up to a point.
The Scottish Premiership is hopelessly uncompetitive and, when Brendan Rodgers and his team reach the group stage, they edge a little further into the distance.
But turning down a Champions League place until the Scottish league gets its act together isn’t really an option. Neither is telling Lionel Messi he’s not welcome here.
It’s 32 years since a club from outside of Glasgow won the title. And, with or without Champions League qualification, it could be another 32 before it happens again.
Celtic’s size and power is a prime factor in that, no question. But an air of resentment now attaches itself to the Parkhead club qualifying for the group stage; as if they’re somehow to blame for keeping their house in order.
The truth is that they don’t owe rival clubs a living. They are under no obligation to give someone else a turn. Football has never been a socialist utopia and while the Scottish league may not be much of a competition, it’s still — officially, at least — a competition.
A league where one club lords it over the rest is a hopeless affair. But it’s not unique to Scotland.
In Germany, Bayern Munich are going for a sixth straight title. Juventus are chasing seven-in-a-row in Italy. The last time Basle lost the Swiss league was 2009. Olympiakos are favourites to make it eight in Greece and it took a rare intervention from Rijeka to end Dinamo Zagreb’s streak of 11 straight titles in Croatia.
No one thinks this is a good or healthy situation. But to suggest Celtic reaching the Champions League offers no benefits to Scottish football is simply wrong.
Gordon Strachan’s national team travel to Lithuania in a couple of weeks with an option to pick six or seven players with experience of playing in European club football’s biggest competition.
If those same players finish the job in Astana on Tuesday, their Premiership rivals will earn payments of £365,000 to spend on youth development.
That’s more than St Johnstone or Rangers earned from their own efforts in the Europa League and, on any list of ‘things which are bad for Scottish football’, that might be a decent place to start.
Celtic reaching the Champions League might not suit everyone.
But it has to be better than watching the SPFL’s finest lose to part-timers from Malta, Luxembourg and Cyprus.