As has been well covered on The Celtic Star, the club held its virtual AGM today. There were many talking points, but one that struck me on a personal level was Peter Lawwell’s remark that “We know results in Europe need to be better and to do that we need supporters with us.”
Firstly, this is a little bit of an empty statement as Celtic’s biggest asset in European competition is its support. The fans have made Celtic Park world famous for its atmosphere on European nights and have travelled in unparalleled numbers to away ties. However, we have failed to win a knockout tie in Europe since 2004.
Beyond the token comment of requiring the fans, this result summed up exactly where Celtic should look to grow in my opinion. I have long felt that the ambition of fans has not been high enough because they’ve been dragged into a Glasgow derby type notion, whereby the aim is to win 10 in a row and get one over the other side. Nothing displays this fact more than the disdain some fans seem to be showing towards the Scottish Cup Final at the weekend, when Celtic aim to achieve a quadruple treble. In reality, a quadruple treble is more historic and difficult achievement, whilst there is no choice between one or the other, we should seek to do both.
My motto has always been that Europe should be the benchmark and then domestic success usually follows, especially in the current climate with competition at an all time low in Scotland. Imagine how far ahead we would be if we had the £30m Champions League money rolling in most seasons.
Celtic is a big club, who belong on the big stage. Our aim should be to push for the latter stages of the Europa League, ideally having qualified for the Champions League groups and finished third. Nothing is a guarantee in football, but more often than not, we should be looking to qualify and then push on. To do so requires a bit of speculating to accumulate.
We haven’t won a European knockout tie since 2004. There are teams on similar budgets to us who have done so, including a new club in Glasgow, who have only been competing in Europe for four years. Twice in a row they have outperformed us in continental competition and others such as Slavia Prague and Salzburg have done so too.
The reality is that Peter Lawwell became the club’s CEO in late 2003. His time at the club has presided over almost two decades of European failure. We should look to get our transfer business done early, reinvest Champions League money, and create a new mentality whereby we look to go further in the Europa League.
Losing to the likes of Cluj, Ferencvaros and Copenhagen isn’t good enough. It can happen from time to time, that’s football, but not time and time again.
We must look to do better in this regard if we are to reach the next level and get Celtic back to a stage where it belongs. Had this been our ambition in the last decade, then ten in a row would almost have been a formality given the state of our opposition and the further financial gap that we could have opened.
Agree with the sentiments here and the club have not just under performed but woefully so on occasion and to that end it shows Lennie is too easily out thought in Europe by mediocre team managers who seem to have the ability to get their teams to perform better with lesser class players…this has to be addressed.
Peter Lawwell has never had success in Europe as a priority. Returning a secure year on year profit earns him his bonuses. Unless his KPIs are changed to success in Europe it will always be so