Let’s look on the bright side of all this. No more watching urine yellow masquerading as Celtic on a Thursday night at funny times when people are either coming home from their work or going out somewhere.
The Europa League, let us not mince words about it, is rubbish, and we can now concentrate on the real football and the potential treble treble.
All that said, it was by no means a bad performance, and yes, we all know where we lost it. A better performance last week, even a draw at Parkhead, would have made all the difference, but we shot ourselves in the foot, and in spite of a certain amount of bravado, no-one really expected us to win through.
In some ways it was a performance typical of so many performances in the past both of Celtic and of the Scottish national team – get beat first, and then show the world what we could have done!
I was totally shocked at the sending off of Jeremy Toljan. Both offences were trivial, barely worthy of being called a foul, and yet Celtic were down to ten men before half-time.
Why was there not more outcry on the field or in the commentary box at the time? It was a shocker! Jeremy knows now what that Kilmarnock goalkeeper feels like! But please do not try to tell me that European referees would solve the problem in Scotland!
It is naive to think that. It is the quality of the referees, not the nationality, which is the vital thing.
I’m not fond of words like “gallant” because the next word is usually “losers”, but yes, I suppose it was a gallant display, and Kirstoffer Ajer’s header might have put the wind up Valencia, and who knows what could have happened?
Full marks to men like the two Scotts, Brown and Bain, and Jonny Hayes continues to show what he can do. But it all doesn’t matter, and there really does have to be some serious thinking about whether we really want to do well in Europe.
It is simplistic to think that throwing a million or two about Europe in the summer will immediately make a difference, but we must think about this, otherwise I see no point in entering Europe just to make a fool of ourselves. But then again, it is all about money, isn’t it?
I repeat my view of last week, that it is a matter of some puzzlement both to me and the rest of Europe how a club with such a support always manages to disappoint in Europe.
But no more navel gazing and introspection. Motherwell on Sunday and then Tynecastle on Wednesday Let’s have no hangover at the weekend. Just let’s get another three points.
David Potter
