James Forrest
The Emperor of Ice Cream
The other day, somebody put up the list of teams Celtic could face in the Champions League qualifier we have to navigate to reach the group stage. As that person said, under normal circumstances we would expect to beat any and all of them.
But we are not living in normal circumstances.
Everybody knows how shocking our Champions League qualifying record has been. I don’t have to go through every number, but it is worth saying anyway that we have lost the last five ties we had to play to qualify for the groups. Five in a row.
There are people who will say this is down to bad luck and that we shouldn’t read too much into it. Others will blame individual managers. There is certainly no shortage of people lining up to blame Brendan Rodgers for last season’s failure.
But the simple truth is that Celtic have a system, a policy if you like, which leaves us chronically and shockingly unprepared for those games almost every time we have to play them.
Based on where we are right now, without a manager in the building, with a major squad rebuild to do, and with no visible sign that any of it is properly underway, we are already behind the eight ball.
I know a lot of people will say that’s not true.
They are wrong.
This is creeping up on us whether we like it or not, and the World Cup makes this a nightmare scenario. There are players we may want who will be playing at that tournament, and I see no sign that Celtic are going to move fast enough to put the pieces in place before the Champions League qualifiers begin.
People inside the club had better get this straight.
Those games are not just important financially. They are not just important in terms of prestige or putting us back at the top table. Those games will set the mood music for the whole season.
Last season’s Champions League exit to Kairat lit the blue touch paper on the fan revolt.
A similar outcome this season would meet an even more volcanic response, because nobody will be able to ignore the obvious fact: we left too much undone, with too little time to get it done. Again. Because of choices made inside the club.
It is often said, but little understood, that January is when you start preparing for the summer. That is why I could not believe our January transfer window. It was a flat-out disgrace.
Not only did it fail to help us get over the line in the league; it made the summer job even bigger and harder in a World Cup year.
As if the job wasn’t already going to be difficult enough.
No one will be in the slightest doubt who is to blame if this goes wrong. It will not matter who the manager is. It will not matter what excuses are offered. The fans will blame the people in charge of the club.
So the importance of these games cannot be overstated. They were already vital because of the money and the need to restore credibility. But it is much bigger than that now.
If we don’t qualify, all hell is going to break loose.
Nothing will hold the tide back.
I do not know whether the board fully understands that. I know they should. It should have dawned on them by now. But I don’t know whether they believe it.
Perhaps they think they have got away with this. They have not.
The decision around the Green Brigade has inflamed sections of the support all over again. There was already resistance to their continued running of the club, but now there is an extra edge to it.
That edge is going to explode if Celtic are not ready for those qualifying matches.
This is the most important summer the club has had for decades. Because Champions League qualification will only become harder in the coming years, it is all the more important that we do it this time.
To do that, we will have to buck recent history. Even in a good year, the odds would carry pressure. This is not a good year.
A World Cup year never is. A major tournament summer never is. And Celtic have too much work to do for this level of drift to be acceptable.
A new chairman. A new sporting director. A new manager.
All of that before we sign a single player. All of that before we accept a single bid for one.
And the timing has to be absolutely right, because we cannot sell before we buy. If we sell first, everyone in football will know exactly what positions we need to strengthen, and every club we speak to will add a premium to the price. That is the reality.
We have walked into that trap more times than any of us care to count.
There are so many ways this can go wrong. So many ways it can end in another mess. And every one of them leads back to the same place.
The people in charge. This is a critical juncture for them and for the club.
Last season’s failure cost Celtic more than £20 million. For a board that likes to think of itself as conservative, careful and cautious, that failure damaged the club financially and damaged them politically. It cost them credibility.
This year, the stakes are even higher.
The money is bigger. The pressure is greater. The risk is out of sight. They dare not screw this up. Because if Celtic go into another Champions League qualifier underprepared, and if the same old mistakes produce the same old outcome, then no speech, no excuse, no statement and no appeal for unity will save them.
The fuse is already burning. They had better understand that before it reaches the powder.
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The post Failure for Celtic in the Champions League qualifiers could ignite this whole season. appeared first on The Celtic Blog.
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But we are not living in normal circumstances.
Everybody knows how shocking our Champions League qualifying record has been. I don’t have to go through every number, but it is worth saying anyway that we have lost the last five ties we had to play to qualify for the groups. Five in a row.
There are people who will say this is down to bad luck and that we shouldn’t read too much into it. Others will blame individual managers. There is certainly no shortage of people lining up to blame Brendan Rodgers for last season’s failure.
But the simple truth is that Celtic have a system, a policy if you like, which leaves us chronically and shockingly unprepared for those games almost every time we have to play them.
Based on where we are right now, without a manager in the building, with a major squad rebuild to do, and with no visible sign that any of it is properly underway, we are already behind the eight ball.
I know a lot of people will say that’s not true.
They are wrong.
This is creeping up on us whether we like it or not, and the World Cup makes this a nightmare scenario. There are players we may want who will be playing at that tournament, and I see no sign that Celtic are going to move fast enough to put the pieces in place before the Champions League qualifiers begin.
People inside the club had better get this straight.
Those games are not just important financially. They are not just important in terms of prestige or putting us back at the top table. Those games will set the mood music for the whole season.
Last season’s Champions League exit to Kairat lit the blue touch paper on the fan revolt.
A similar outcome this season would meet an even more volcanic response, because nobody will be able to ignore the obvious fact: we left too much undone, with too little time to get it done. Again. Because of choices made inside the club.
It is often said, but little understood, that January is when you start preparing for the summer. That is why I could not believe our January transfer window. It was a flat-out disgrace.
Not only did it fail to help us get over the line in the league; it made the summer job even bigger and harder in a World Cup year.
As if the job wasn’t already going to be difficult enough.
No one will be in the slightest doubt who is to blame if this goes wrong. It will not matter who the manager is. It will not matter what excuses are offered. The fans will blame the people in charge of the club.
So the importance of these games cannot be overstated. They were already vital because of the money and the need to restore credibility. But it is much bigger than that now.
If we don’t qualify, all hell is going to break loose.
Nothing will hold the tide back.
I do not know whether the board fully understands that. I know they should. It should have dawned on them by now. But I don’t know whether they believe it.
Perhaps they think they have got away with this. They have not.
The decision around the Green Brigade has inflamed sections of the support all over again. There was already resistance to their continued running of the club, but now there is an extra edge to it.
That edge is going to explode if Celtic are not ready for those qualifying matches.
This is the most important summer the club has had for decades. Because Champions League qualification will only become harder in the coming years, it is all the more important that we do it this time.
To do that, we will have to buck recent history. Even in a good year, the odds would carry pressure. This is not a good year.
A World Cup year never is. A major tournament summer never is. And Celtic have too much work to do for this level of drift to be acceptable.
A new chairman. A new sporting director. A new manager.
All of that before we sign a single player. All of that before we accept a single bid for one.
And the timing has to be absolutely right, because we cannot sell before we buy. If we sell first, everyone in football will know exactly what positions we need to strengthen, and every club we speak to will add a premium to the price. That is the reality.
We have walked into that trap more times than any of us care to count.
There are so many ways this can go wrong. So many ways it can end in another mess. And every one of them leads back to the same place.
The people in charge. This is a critical juncture for them and for the club.
Last season’s failure cost Celtic more than £20 million. For a board that likes to think of itself as conservative, careful and cautious, that failure damaged the club financially and damaged them politically. It cost them credibility.
This year, the stakes are even higher.
The money is bigger. The pressure is greater. The risk is out of sight. They dare not screw this up. Because if Celtic go into another Champions League qualifier underprepared, and if the same old mistakes produce the same old outcome, then no speech, no excuse, no statement and no appeal for unity will save them.
The fuse is already burning. They had better understand that before it reaches the powder.
Choose The CelticBlog as a ‘Preferred Source’ on Google News for quick access to the news you value.
The post Failure for Celtic in the Champions League qualifiers could ignite this whole season. appeared first on The Celtic Blog.
Continue reading...
