Stop laughing! Stop gloating! And let’s learn a few lessons! That Shaun Riley fella is leading you all astray this morning.
Today is probably a good day for Celtic. Just imagine what life would have been like otherwise! The BBC Reporting Scotland in particular this week has really annoyed me by its grovelling sycophancy, and the Press has been little better. Just imagine how often we would have had to see someone lifting that trophy and someone else coming off an aeroplane with it, and guess where tonight’s Reporting Scotland would have been broadcast from? Everyone walking up the marble staircase dressed in blue, and no-one talking about who won the League! Yes, we can be relieved we have missed all that!
And yet I can feel a wee bit of pity for some of them. There are decent folk among them as well, and we have been there too – in that very same city 19 years ago. But the pity and the sympathy must be tempered when we recall what they would have been like if they had won. At least two of their former heroes went around saying that the Europa League was more important than the Scottish Premier League, and we would have had an awful lot of that to put up with. As it is, they have won neither.
But enough of the gloating! There are four lessons to be learned from this.
1. It actually says a lot about Celtic. If the team that we beat in the League by four points can reach the final of a major European competition, so too can we. Celtic can’t be all that bad, can they? No need for any inferiority complex.
2. There can now be no excuse about money and not having a big budget etc. Whatever they can do, we can do better. Not only can we. We must! There can be no more losing to these teams who begin with the letter M – Malmo, Maribor etc. We are Celtic! Only the best is good enough, and a run in Europe is now a must.
3. Maybe a club can spread itself too thinly. Remember 2003 when we lost everything? That is why we must keep on adding to the squad.
4. Never let a game go to extra time and/or penalties. It is a lottery, and I agree, great television, but let’s get the game won in 90 minutes.
And so enjoy today! And on Saturday break the habits of a life time and support the Jambos! No building bonfires on Saturday at least! But maybe you would prefer a game of golf, or a day in the garden or in the pub, or shopping or (as in my case) a game of cricket. It would be nice to see Robbie Neilson with the Scottish Cup, would it not? They haven’t had an awful lot to be happy about in recent years. And we could do with seeing a few more happy faces.
After all, we saw a lot of tears last night.
David Potter
David , for all that you have said in your piece , the overriding and most important point of all , IMHO , is that one of last night’s finalists only won a third of their European games to get to that final.
Are we clouding our own judgement by hoping for 10-0 wins every game , and that maybe we should be expecting results no matter how ugly ; as long as we move to the next stage ?
Is it time to accept that in order to succeed in Europe (assumes that we have reached the knockout phase) , we need to accept that the only important thing is to be in the next round and not how pleasing the footie was/is or the amount of “goals for” was impressive. It’s great when we have all 3 , but there has to be a priority to those aspects.
Villarreal got to the Champions league semis by using the mentality of really hard to beat away from home and still difficult to beat but playing more open at home.
I pray and hope that AP has a pragmatism string to his bow and that he ‘ll use it when he believes it to be a “leveller” in the tie
HH
PS: I had a great sleep last night , with nae fireworks constantly going off 😂
Penalties are not a lottery. Part of the game and should be practised like every other aspect. Pro footballers.
Good article.
When i eventually summed up the nerve to check the score on Thursday morning my immediate feeling was one of great relief. I could not have faced a few months (at least) of hearing about the new “Legends” from Ibrox. However there was absolutely no feeling of a need to gloat. One of the great Celtic memories I have is of watching the 2003 Final in Seville with a couple of hundred Kiwi Bhoys on an early Auckland morning, then spending the rest of the day in the RSA bar commiseraring and commemorating. If we had heard of any of the local Rangers guys celebrating our defeat we would have laughed at their pettiness. Rangers reached a European Final. I was relieved they did not win the tournament but it would be churlish to say reaching the final was all down to luck. Like winning the League, a little luck is required, but you don’t win the League or get to a European Final on luck alone. Like it or not Rangers have from a virtual standing start overtaken our coefficient. They have found a way to get further in Europe than we have (yes, they have had some more favourable draws but based on our Bodo/Glimt performances would we have beaten Dortmund, Leipzig etc). The Board is often accused of being concerned only with just keeping ahead of the Rangers. If that is the case then the gloating plays into their hands. Same with all those fans who in February were saying they were happy to be out of Europe. There is no doubt that some Board decisions in recent years have hindered us but it can’t just be as simple as not spending enough money. I don’t think Rangers have spent more than us in that time. Maybe it’s more who we spend it on, and how we use them? Next season’s CL campaign will be tough. Being in pot 4 means that even getting 3rd spot will be tough. Should Rangers get to the group stages thair coefficient should see them in pot 3 makin their task a wee bit easier. We have to find a way to be able to beat the likes of PSG, Chelsea, Dortmund to progress. Ange won’t be changing his style so we need some serious improvement in personnel, particularly in midfield. Looking forward to see what Ange will produce next term. Getting out of a CL group even in 3rd spot might just make me feel like a wee bit of gloating!
I strongly disagree with one particular sentiment in the article, and reiterate what one correspondent said yesterday.
Penalties are not, and should not be considered a lottery. Tossing the refs coin at the start of the match and immediately preceeding the shoot out itself is a lottery. Taking a penalty is not. It is a test of skill and bottle. Why would a penalty be classed a lottery on one hand, but an on- rushing striker v. a sprawling g/keeper would never be so considered. Ramsey’s failure was due not to a lack of skill you would think. It may have been down to a lack of composure or a poor choice ( go left, go right, go panenka, whatever) but it certainly was not down to luck as in a lottery. Brilliant entertainment though.