Champions League qualification on the back of a somewhat unexpected title win this season for Celtic will see the club compete in Europe’s elite competition at the group stage for the first time in five years.
The benefits of this are many for Celtic when you consider the money that will come into the club, the ability to attract better players it brings, as well as simply having Celtic back performing on a stage where we belong, and one we appeared to have disregarded as a genuine ambition for far too long.
Meanwhile the impact of not being there has also cut deep. Our recruitment had dropped in standard until Ange Postecoglou arrived, we also had to sell players to maintain a position of financial security, and even those we perhaps didn’t need to sell soon grew tired of the monotony of Scottish football, no matter how many medals were hung around their neck, and wanted out.
After all they’d been sold on Celtic as a platform to showcase their talents on a grander stage and we let them down with a lack of preparedness each and every season when European qualification began. Domestic trebles are for supporters of the club, not so much for footballers with no previous connection and who likely grow tired of domestic bliss far sooner than those watching from the stands.
Now however Celtic are in a real position of strength. We are likely a season ahead in terms of Champions League qualification, and the job Ange Postecoglou has undertaken in recruiting an inordinate number of players in which to build a squad in short order has been nothing short of miraculous.
With the likelihood quality rather than last summer’s need for quantity will be the order of this transfer window, Celtic could be about to kick on into an an era of domestic dominance crucially supplemented by top level European football being enough to quench the thirst of even the most ambitious of young footballers.
A look to Celtic’s squad at the moment shows a vast number who need moving on as the manager deals with his squad inheritance of heavily waged footballers who do not fit his playing philosophy.
Although a job of work lies ahead in shifting those players on over the next couple of transfer windows, those inside Ange’s circle of trust already indicate an opportunity for something Celtic have been unable to do in recent time, to genuinely build a team and one who can be kept, in the main, together for a few seasons to come.
Other than the goalkeeping position – where Joe Hart is very much the elder statesman – Celtic have a group of players who are young, hungry and talented, and are now at a club with a manager who is intent on building towards a team who can compete in European football.
Group stage qualification may seem like the return of a long-lost friend, but for the manager future seasons will see progression beyond that stage a genuine ambition. And that gives an opportunity to build a team and a squad who can be together for another two, three or four seasons.
If we can stay on top of the pile domestically then Champions League qualification and the low hanging fruit it offers can allow Celtic to build something rather than pick off the family silver to avoid straying into the overdraft, as we’ve often done in the past – to the detriment of any manager who has plans to build something tangible and long lasting.
Much of this Celtic side remains on the right side of their approaching peaks. Should Carter-Vickers and Jota sign they are 23 and 24 respectively, Greg Taylor is also 24, meanwhile Josip Juranovic is 26 and Carl Starfelt just turned 27 two days ago.
Captain Callum McGregor has been around forever but is still only 29, and considering he averages 63 games a season there is little sign yet to say he can’t play well into his thirties.
Meanwhile in the attacking midfield areas David Turnbull is still only 22, Matt O’Riley 21 and Reo Hatate 24, and all have shown incredible levels of performance with little chance of plateauing any time soon.
Then for those operating across the front three Kyogo is 27, Daizen Maeda only, 24 Liel Abada a mere 20 years of age and Giorgos Giakoumakis also only 27.
There is a great deal of growth in all of those players, and bar Abada, all are in a position where the inconsistencies of youth will soon be replaced by genuine consistency of performance, yet still being just shy of the best years of their careers.
If the manager takes a similar approach to age profiles in this transfer window, this Celtic team is in a position to grow into sustained success together, and if Champions League football is secured on a regular basis the international aspirations, and the platform they would want to be competing on can all be realised with Celtic.
Of course, that may not work for every player. There will always be those who will have heads turned by money, the call if the EPL or La Liga or indeed the club may well receive an offer for players they simply can’t refuse, but Celtic would at least be in a position where we have done everything we could to ensure what we sell to players when they arrive at the club has been delivered.
READ THIS…Don’t miss Sandman’s Graphically Explicit Review of Season 2021/22 here’s Ralston’s Review as an example…
If that’s not enough for some, well that’s football. But in the main there is now a genuine chance of some team building being able to be carried out at Celtic with Champions League money now negating the acute need to sell we’ve had in the past.
Of course, much of that is assuming the Celtic board don’t have a banana skin lying in front of Ange Postecoglou, and for this writer those trust issues still cloud hopes.
However, assuming the level of autonomy now being offered to this manager and the changes in terms of sports science, analytics and a data driven approach to performance and recruitment is a sign the Celtic board is willing to sit back and trust the footballing progress of this club to Ange Postecoglou, then the future looks bright for Celtic being able to build a team at long last, and one fit not just for domestic football, but also one able to not only drop into the Champions League and cash the £40m cheque each year, but one who in a short-time will be able to compete at that level.
Niall J
FATHER’S DAY IS ON SUNDAY 19 JUNE. THIS YEAR, WHY NOT MAKE IT TWICE AS GOOD?
Mention the name Harry Hood and it evokes memories of a wonderful footballer in a glorious era, most notably at Celtic, his boyhood club. Wearing those magical, unspoilt green and white Hoops.
Of the chants which rang out as he scored vital goals for Celtic, against the giants of European football under those massive lights in Glasgow’s east end, in the intensity of the city’s fierce derbies or major cup finals before six-figure crowds. Moments which created history.
Skilful, intelligent and classy, with 125 goals and over 300 games for Celtic in that post-Lisbon era, where the Lions and Quality Street Gang merged with Jock Stein’s astute signings to keep the Hoops at the summit of European football. A key man in an incredible team, some of whom pay tribute to Harry in this, his official biography.
Oh Harry, Harry! He did it all and your dad probably loved him.
Listen to the specially recorded version of the Harry Hood song from the 1970s by the wonderful Boolavogue…
Here’s the shirts worn by Harry and some copies of Matt Corr’s brilliant official biography Harry Hood – Twice as Good…
HERE’S WHERE YOU CAN ORDER YOUR COPY OF HARRY HOOD -TWICE AS GOOD, DIRECT FROM THE CELTIC STAR…
AND HERE’S THE T-SHIRT WE’LL SEND YOU ABSOLUTELY FREE OF CHARGE WHEN YOU ORDER A COPY OF HARRY HOOD TWICE AS GOOD. JUST TELL US THE SIZE REQUIRED IN THE NOTES SECTION WHEN ORDERING. CHOOSE FROM SMALL, MEDIUM, LARGE, XL OR XXL…
When you think of the great players we’ve had in recent times who’ve moved on to pastures new and shone, we could’ve had a team challenging for the Champions League title if we’d managed to keep them all, under the right manager.
We’re always going to get offers we/our players find difficult to turn down, but where the clubs failed to date is in replacing these players quickly with quality.
If we get a small fortune for one player, a good chunk of their transfer fee ‘needs’ to be reinvested in replacing the players position in the team by signing another quality player; its how we maintain first team stability and hault regression, which will make us stronger on and off the park!
It might seem simple and obvious, but we rarely do it! …we should have foresight(maybe we do!?) for these situations arising and already have a list of potential replacements in place, to ensure smooth transition.
If we invest quickly and wisely in these situations, the team remains strong in the short term, and grows stronger throughout in the long term, which will help us when challenging in Europe, and will create extra revenue as we’ll always have a team of quality players catching the eye of other clubs, as opposed to the odd one or two every now and then.
We’re a selling club, so our best option is to always have a ‘team’ of quality players in the shop window, with a conveyor belt of options to replenish the team when they inevitably move on.
We want to run our club like a business, then we need to make it the best business we can!