I'm not sure that this view will go down well back home (I now live in Melbourne) but I personally think this season has been a failure!!!
I'm not overally bothered by the Scottish Cup and the League Cup it's the League and the Champions League that matters most to me. And missing out on the champions league means that this season goes down as a failure.
My view is that games in Europe are the most important, they bring the most enjoyment (full houses) and the most money. However we constantly treat it with disrespect. I can understand why the board doesn't spend our War Chest of cash (nothing borrowed I might add).....because the vast majority of fans just care about beating Sevco.
Sevco are improving, they were a fairly descent Europa league team this season taking it to the last game before bowing out..... we're a Europa league team too! If we don't get to the Champions League then we will have a huge fight on our hands next season just to win the league. Make no mistake Sevco are hungry we need to get that hunger too, as everyone has seen us regress over the last year. We need a Champions League standard team to finish above them.
Missing out on Champions league I blame the board and Rodgers..... The board for not backing Rodgers and Rodgers for not beating a woeful AEK with the squad we had.
The next managers prerequisite has to be 1: Qualification for the Champions League (Every Season) if not you get the sack. Champions league football means we must win the league too (Win - Win). I don't care if he plays under 21's in the FA and League cup (even against Sevco) it's a total of 9 games if you get to the final of both) that really just clogs up the season.
We have 8 games a year to get into the champions league....our biggest games, and we don't prepare for them adequately. Yes, we have to take some pain (not actively going for the cups), but I would rather be playing Barca, Man U, Benfica, Dortmund, Inter at a packed Parkhead then playing Alloa with a full team with 20,000 fans at the ground.
Hopefully the Treble Treble changes the way we think as a club, a Champions League priorities games and beds in youngsters in less important games.
Hail Hail!