Hacked Off – Bitter MSM Journalist on Celtic beating “third best team in The Netherlands”

“Celtic have improved quickly and have momentum. But.. also a wage bill of circa £50m.. victory over the third best team in The Netherlands is now portrayed as seismic as they chase the Europa League”…

I guess with those quotes you could say journalist Euan Murray was adding a little context to Celtic’s recent upturn in form, then again you could say they were the words of an embittered Hearts supporter still reeling from the fortnight turnaround that saw his team go from the hysteria of an opening day win at Tynecastle to having their pants pulled down and backside slapped publicly as Celtic gave them a League cup exit and run-around on Sunday.

Celtic v AZ Alkmaar – Kyogo Furuhashi celebrates. Photo Andrew Milligan

What Euan Murray’s quotes fail to consider is the fact Celtic fans are not adjusting standards in celebrating a win over AZ Alkmaar last night, as a support they themselves are taking the win into context in what has been a tumultuous year to 18 months.

To put it simply even three weeks ago a two-goal win against the third best team in the Netherlands would have seemed fanciful, to add a clean sheet to the mix against such a standard of opponent and the sanity of any who predicted it would correctly have been called into question.

To all intents and purposes Celtic’s upturn in performances and control of football games, whilst also supplying exhilarating football to watch has been incredible and it should be celebrated.

Celtic v AZ Alkmaar – UEFA Europa League – Play-Off – First Leg – Celtic Park Celtic s Liel Abada shakes hands with manager Ange Postecoglou after being substituted. Photo Andrew Milligan

Any coach arriving at Celtic would have been forgiven for simply steadying the ship, making Celtic stuffy and difficult to play against whilst they sought to seek suitable recruits in the transfer window and then subsequently and slowly introduce their vision. Ange Postecoglou hasn’t done that, the new manager has simply gone straight to Plan A and it is the speed of that success, against a backdrop of turmoil, as much as the 2-0 win in the Europa League qualifier that Celtic supporters are still smiling about this morning.

It’s fair to say we were all delighted with confidence building wins home and away against Jablonec, most impressed with a six of the best handed out to Dundee and chuffed to bits as revenge was served when Hearts visited Paradise on Sunday but every Celtic supporter new the real test of the progress being made would lie with the performance and result against a far higher level of opponent last night. Celtic passed with flying colours and although the support is still aware any revival seen remains tinged with cautious optimism still, progress in the context of it all has arrived at a pace few would have believed credible.

Celtic v AZ Alkmaar – James Forrest centre celebrates with his team-mates after scoring. Photo: Andrew Milligan

Ange Postecoglou it should be remembered arrived after a three-month chase for Eddie Howe collapsed, he brought no backroom staff and has had to impart his philosophy onto an inherited coaching staff as well as a threadbare squad. This was all against a backdrop of supporter unrest, player morale at basement level, more column inches being set aside to wantaways than new recruits, a new CEO to guide him with no experience of the idiosyncrasies of football never mind the Scottish game and a cornerstone captain having jumped ship to Aberdeen’s own revolution.

Postecoglou was racing against time from the outset and although playing catch up was too high a fence to jump for Champions League football, he suddenly has made up time and somehow positioned Celtic for the possibility of group stage football in the Europa League. If you are looking at context, where Celtic have positioned themselves now, particularly after last night’s first big test, alongside the inherited chaos Ange Postecoglou has been working through is little short of miraculous.

Celtic v AZ Alkmaar – Kyogo Furuhashi right high fives team-mate Callum McGregor ahead of the UEFA Europa League Play-off. Photo: Andrew Milligan

In the bigger picture there is merit in Euan Murray’s words. Celtic should in ordinary circumstances expect to defeat the third best team in the Netherlands at home. Our wage bill probably does exceed our opponents but it is far to binary a position to adopt, far too black and white a position to take and excludes completely the shades of grey Celtic’s new head coach has had to contend with.

Furthermore, it completely ignores the backdrop of attempting to realign a club who had long gone into a managed decline. In that context last night’s win over AZ Alkmaar was ‘seismic’, however there is not a single supporter out there today grinning from ear to ear that isn’t aware plenty of rough will come our way after the smooth and at many points to come in this season ahead. We are all aware that to get where we need to go the Celtic board have to back their man, we all know we have a decent team but still have squad players playing as first picks and we know the style of play we are operating will resulting in more than the occasional bloody nose along the way.

Celtic v AZ Alkmaar Kyogo Furuhashi right celebrates with his team-mates. Photo: Andrew Milligan

Celtic supporters weren’t simply celebrating a 2-0 Play-off win last night; we were celebrating that just three weeks ago we wouldn’t have given ourselves an earthly against a side as good as AZ Alkmaar. We were celebrating the fact our progress has been benchmarked now and we’ve come out of it with hope that at least we are on the right track and it’s been a long time since any of us felt like that.

It all comes down to context and whilst Euan Murray was possibly attempting to add his own rather than reacting petulantly and belatedly to his own team’s footballing lesson at the weekend, his reactionary response to Celtic biggest win of the season ignored layers of the stuff.

Niall J

About Author

As a Bellshill Bhoy I was taken to my first Celtic game in the summer of 1987. It was Billy McNeill’s return to Celtic Park as manager and Celtic lost 5-1 to Arsenal . I thought I was a jinx, I think my Grandfather might have thought the same. It was the finest gift anyone ever gave me when he walked me through Parkhead's gates.

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