SEAN McDON outlines why he is happy that Celtic are a Europa League team this season. Here is a flavour on an extensive argument that our resident Academic has outlined and if you are interested in reading the longer version of Sean’s argument there is a link at the end.
Why I’m happy that Celtic are a Europa League Team by Sean McDon
The mushroom cloud of last week’s AEK humbling is, although warranted at the time, thankfully over.
Definitely our Hiroshima moment of the season thus far but, like all great teams, it’s the manner in which the team picks itself up and strides forward which is the most important aspect of the entire episode.
What I have come to realise is that every cloud does have a silver lining however – even the mushroom ones. I refer here to the extent to which I, like many other Celtic fans, have had a chance to ponder over the fundamental reasons as to why Celtic FC, one of the best supported teams in the world currently living through its most financially sound period yet, are operating in what is considered to be European footballs ‘also ran’ competition.
Don’t get me wrong, this is not an attack on the Europa League. After all this is the competition which in its previous life as the UEFA Cup, provided one of our greatest episodes in the shape of Seville, 2003.
The so called ‘Champions’ League and its gross elitism
I have been one of many over the years stating that, in purely footballing terms, qualifying for the Champions League is utterly pointless for a team like Celtic.
Not only is it not for actual Champions but it has managed to normalise an overwhelming number of our proud support to be ‘happy’ with a 3rd place finish in a group of 4 – eternally bad for the winners psyche – and all of this so that we gain the necessary monetary rewards which help to bloat the dividends to the shareholders at the end of the fiscal year.
Sure, we get a few home games with envious atmospheres and there really is nothing better than the Champions League anthem being belted out as the teams emerge, but when all is said and done, the majority of Celtic fans realise that we are, at best, scraping a 2nd place finish and, most likely, squeezing out a 4th placed team to finish 3rd to enable us to bow out to play teams more befitting of our talents in the Europa.
Grotesque profit levels aside, in relation to what it gives Celtic there exists a strong argument to suggest that the Champions League potentially does more harm than good.
For example, it normalises failure in the guise of finishing 3rd; it solidifies the notion that football is concentrated entirely around profit and big money; it normalises the idea of a ‘Champion’ being a 4th placed team from a ‘top’ league and lastly, it anaesthetises the football fan community and promotes a wider culture of their unquestioning enslavement to elitism.
These are all pathological and can only result in a fan base, of any team, being at dis-ease with itself in the long run unless you belong to the ‘elite’ fan-base.
Sean continues his argument HERE.
If you would like to write for The Celtic Star – on any Celtic related subject of your own choosing – then please email your submission to editor@thecelticstar.co.uk and we’ll get do the rest.
