Celtic as a club can hold their own. When it comes to size and stature Celtic are amongst the biggest names in world football. Yet we are constrained by our environment.
Odsonne Edouard has won the Scottish Writers player of the year award as well as The Celtic Star’s own award voted on by 12,000 of this sites readers. He is also a player that Celtic wish to lead our goal threat into the 10-in-a-row season.
That there is any doubt about this happening is not down to Celtic nor to the attraction of our football club. No, the doubt that Odsonne Edoaurd could stay or go is down to the league we operate in.
As the big four nations horde and stockpile the finest footballing assets, the others vie for the scraps. When we find a rough diamond and polish it we attract the prospectors who see the club as an environment it can mine. It can pick up our talent, showcase them to a wider audience and pay them fortunes for doing so, then sell them on for a large profit on the back of that success.
Much like Moussa Dembele, Odsonne Edouard will of course leave Celtic and advance his career elsewhere. Thankfully his own proclamation that he wishes to stay at Celtic until that 10th historical title is claimed, shows there is an appreciation for the club, the supporters and the history of Celtic.
When he does leave it will be for an opportunity to play against the best the world can offer, compete at the top end of their leagues, force his way into the French International first team and win European trophies. In different circumstances he could well do that with Celtic, in the current environment he knows full well to realise his ambitions he will have to head elsewhere.
News broke yesterday of the Dutch and Belgian leagues looking to learn some lessons from the Coronavirus shutdown and protect themselves financially going forward. They have made it clear they intend to enter into a feasibility study, as to whether a merging of those leagues would be practical.
Their intention is to increase their competitiveness financially and in turn the direct correlation of finance may indeed lead to a European trophy returning, to the Netherlands in particular. A country who have a great European history and are now priced out of that particular market.
Ajax still produce players it’s just they can no longer retain them for as long as they’d need to make a competitive European side. 20 years without a European trophy is not down to their inability to produce footballers, it’s down to their difficulty in retaining them long enough to build a side that can compete in Europe. Feyenoord, Club Brugge and PSV Eindhoven likely feel constrained by their environment now too. Remind you of anyone?
Celtic can of course remain within our own league, we can continue to drive home our financial advantage over our poorer relations, or we too could draw a line in the sand and try to break free of the confines of our environment. We can try and find likeminded clubs in Holland, Belgium, Austria and others and create a league of genuine competition and where Celtic can grow at a rate more suited to our ambition, rather than be limited by our current location.
If playing teams more than four times a season wasn’t boring enough, then the long drawn out reconstruction debate has showed there is no appetite for change in Scottish football. There is little hope of improved marketing or blue sky thinking akin to the United States MLS, when the clubs are clearly risk averse.
Scottish clubs would rather take the scraps from Celtic’s table forcing us in turn to rely on the same morsels falling from UEFA’s banquet, rather than bring in some fresh investment and fresh ideas that could accentuate the positives in Scottish football and find a way to sell that to a wider audience.
The argument that Celtic should focus on our own product and try and make it better becomes redundant when we are reliant on too many others who have shown over the last few months they have absolutely no interest in anything other than the status quo. The voting system ensures the best of ideas and plans are waylaid by self-interest and little ambition.
10-in-a-row could and should be a watershed moment for Celtic. We should win that record breaking title and then look to make friends with influencing people. Find kindred spirits who would like to expand their horizons, join together and market a league to advertisers and broadcasters that allows Celtic to break free for the current stagnation and develop.
Edouard is one of a long line of players who genuinely profess their love for the club but will look elsewhere to realise their career ambitions, and although it won’t stop players leaving Celtic to be competing in a league beyond Scotland entirely, it could stem the flow.
It may encourage players to remain at Celtic longer if we can close the pay gap with the top leagues and encourage a more competitive week to week environment than we have in Scotland. Retaining Scottish players who support the club is less of an issue, however retaining foreign talent without that same emotional attachment is more difficult, particularly when they can double their salary and more even at a mid-table club in the powerful leagues.
Next summer is likely to be the time when French Eddy makes his move, it should be the time Celtic lay down some plans for a move of our own. A ‘keep us informed’ message to Holland and Belgium would be a good starting point.
Niall J
