Celtic have ended this season’s Europa League group stages with two dead rubber matches. Tomorrow night at Celtic Park we’ll entertain Lille and with it draw to a conclusion one of the toughest to watch European campaigns of recent years, as we exit a second European tournament prior to Christmas.
This time last year Celtic were finishing the same way with two nigh on meaningless games. Having already qualified for the last 32, Celtic finished first with a home tie against Rennes at Celtic Park and concluded with a Euro four timer with Cluj.
It was different then of course. Celtic were riding a crest of a wave in European form. We had finished the group undefeated with a win and a draw against the French Cup holders and Italy’s most in form club Lazio had been beaten at Celtic Park and then most famously away in Rome – having come from behind in both. It made a hero of Olivier Ntcham and claimed a first win on Italian soil to add to the rich European tapestry of Celtic. Oh, how we have fallen.
The disappointment of this campaign has also been heightened by the dreadful domestic form the club is also exhibiting at this time. Last season Celtic, despite having a rival side also in full flow at Europa League level and domestic level, were also competing well.
If we as a support had any angst at this time last season it was that we were struggling to beat teams comfortably rather than defeat them at all. A domestic drawn game would be seen as a disaster, now it’s almost seen as an improvement.
But in truth both European forays of recent seasons play a part in just where Celtic find ourselves in this campaign. A drop in standards and ambition from boardroom to the stands has played its part on this lack of ambition now seeping into a domestic environment.
Whilst last season was celebrated and this derided, it should be highlighted that both campaigns, be them successful or massively disappointing, were played out amongst footballs also rans in UEFA’s consolation cup. Not only that there was little pressure placed on the club, at least not much they had to ride out for failing to dine out at the top table.
There have been too many occasions in recent years where a single phrase used by Celtic fans made me bristle. ‘The Europa League is our level’. The problem when you settle is you accept a drop in standards. It avoids any pressure being applied to those in charge to strive for much more than the bare minimum.
That is particularly prevalent when there is an acceptance amongst the support that a secondary competition and having the possibility of a few wins, even a knock-out phase qualification, is acceptable. All because facing the tough opposition, taking a few on a chin but ultimately competing against better opposition – and as such more likely to improve ourselves as result – is a bit too hard to take. An unwillingness to endure short-term pain for no guarantee of long term gain? That is what it looks like.
Somehow the team with a star above the crest decided it was acceptable to avoid playing the big boys, as a bloody nose at that level was too much to bear. That attitude either permeated to the board , or it filtered from them to us and we accepted it. Either way, whatever way it flowed it, it resulted in not only a dropping of standards and instead allowed an acknowledged and excused dropping of acceptable standards.
Celtic fans are now demanding change and rightly so. Standards are not so much low as plumbing the depths of the early 90’s at present. But when we demand change, we need to be looking for more than an acceptance that when transformation arrives it will be enough for a manager to reach post-Christmas football and a last 32 of the European version of the diddy cup. To ensure that happens our ambition for Celtic has to also reset.
Celtic have to be a Champions League club. Our ambitions should be for qualifying for the group stages as a minimum each year. The target the manager and those above his station should be set is for qualification from that group. Anything less will see a continued plateauing of ambition and one that will impact on domestic form. We must be the ones that demand that and hold them to account, we can no longer be side-lined by domestic one upmanship.
When you allow less to be seen as acceptable, then less seeps its way into every part of your thinking. Ambition and demands go hand in hand, but you cannot pick and choose, switch on and off based on what tournament you play in, they all impact on each other eventually.
Going from Champions League qualification hopes to being knocked out the League Cup by Ross County in the last 16 of the League Cup is evidence that standards must be high and targets must be demanding. The alternative, as we are seeing evidenced this season, is a downward trajectory in the club’s achievements.
For too many years we have all railed against failure to qualify for Europe’s biggest tournament. We have complained, but not for long and not nearly strongly enough, nor have we sustained it.
Often a win against theRangers, an unbeaten run at home, a League Cup semi-final success, or a win or two against a big nation side, who rarely play their first eleven in any case, has seen us all forget the earlier failure and wallow in perceived success at our parochial domestic level or in Europe’s secondary competition.
The Celtic board know that. They knew we’d soon put up and shut up with a derby win or an away win in the Europa League, and we’re responsible for allowing them little scrutiny when it comes to continuing along that road. Indeed, we’ve even lauded them for doing so.
When Celtic reset and when a new manager comes in, we as fans must be as demanding as we are becoming this season. We have to ensure the board know that Celtic’s ambitions must be high, they must be that Celtic are a European club traveling in the first-class carriage, not happy to be relegated to a second-class competition.
If our CEO is unwilling to strive for those standards then we need to let them know that the buck doesn’t stop with the manager, feet need to be held to the fire at a higher level.
When Celtic emerge from this self-inflicted slump our ambitions as a support need to be high, we need to let the guardians of the club know that Celtic begin and end as a European club and the domestic success is the bare minimum that is required.
This season is turning out to be so poor that we are even exiting the consolation Europa League group with a shrug of the shoulders as we are paralysed by the drop off at home. That is because our standards have slipped.
Domestic success should be a by-product of our European standards being achieved. Tomorrow night against Lille is a game now to be endured rather than enjoyed. That is a sad indictment of how far we have dropped.
If we wish that feeling to be avoided in future, then we need to shift the level of our ambition away from the home front obsession and demand higher targets are set.
We can blame others for that of course, and they should be held to account, but the demands start with the support. We also need to lift our heads and look up rather than around.
Niall J
