If Celtic take delivery of the Scottish Premiership trophy for a 10th time in succession come May, you can guarantee a bloody nose at the hands of Ferencvaros will not feature as a reference point. Nor will previous European embarrassments at the hands of Cluj, AEK Athens, Malmö, and Maribor amid dominance at home.
It remains an astonishing reality that winning by umpteen lengths in what is, at most, a two-horse race matters significantly more to some than making inroads in a more illustrious competition. The remainder of Scottish football has no reason to feel smug about Celtic’s latest horror show, given the pre-eminent team in the country has just been shown up by the champions of a nation ranked below Liechtenstein in Uefa’s coefficient table. That won’t stop the sniggering, of course.
Chronic overpraise towards either half of the Old Firm when they demolish domestic sides with a 30th of their wage budget means the reaction when results such as the Ferencvaros reverse arise is hilariously furious. When Neil Lennon spoke of Celtic players believing their own hype, that is perfectly understandable; their weekly environment encourages this. So, too, the lauding that follows the odd decent result in Europe.
In truth – and for all Ferencvaros will not make a meaningful European impact this season – this was not as shocking a Champions League outcome as some would believe. As Celtic lorded it over the rest of Scottish football under Ronny Deila and Brendan Rodgers, their leeway provided a raft of opportunity. Celtic had scope to develop scores of their own players, build a playing template and aim far higher than St Mirren and Hamilton.
Praise rightly falls on a policy that saw Kieran Tierney and Moussa Dembélé leave for a combined £40m and will inevitably draw a record sum when Odsonne Édouard grows tired of his environment. Yet an astonishing level of wastage – Celtic’s salary bill was last recorded at £60m – has preceded the club’s earliest Champions League exit since 2005. This club, which can attract 50,000 season-ticket holders and likes to portray itself as a giant, should deliver far more.
Planning, especially in recruitment, looks overtaken by short-termism. From the team who lost to Ferencvaros, there is a viable case for Celtic’s best value signing being Ryan Christie, a £500,000 purchase from Inverness. Many flatter to deceive when the stakes are raised, as rather explains why they have landed in Scotland in the first place. Others, bought for seven-figure fees, have vanished without trace.
All the while it is unclear what the model actually is, beyond regular punts on players from abroad. Patryk Klimala, a £3.5m striker, was not deemed good enough to throw on with Celtic desperately needing potency against the Hungarians. Albian Ajeti’s arrival from West Ham came too late for him to be deemed fit to start. Celtic were scraping around for a first-choice goalkeeper days before their season started.
At a time when the football boundaries have changed so significantly and the Scottish game’s own financial gap has never been wider, it is bizarre that 10 in a row is afforded such status. Lennon cannot be spared criticism for the Ferencvaros affair; no manager can when his team lack pace, are ponderous in attack and make regular defensive blunders.
Yet he is more aware of a bigger picture than most. He acknowledged as much before this campaign. “Everything doesn’t just stop at the end of this season if we achieve it,” said Lennon of the 10-title haul. Lennon has played in and managed Celtic teams who have made great headway in Europe. He knows the weight that carries.
Stroppiness when questions over the level of Scottish football are raised emphasizes parochialism that is undermined by watching games. The standard of fixtures in the early stages of this season has been shockingly poor, from what was a pretty low watermark in 2019-20. Celtic have missed a chance to elevate themselves to a position where the Scottish Premiership – while still, naturally, a fundamental part of their work – is merely the stepping stone to broader success.
Lennon’s broadside at certain members of his squad raised eyebrows. The inference is that some Celtic players are already looking towards pastures new. The blunt reality is that, with the odd exception, players of high currency care little about 10-in-a-row. Unpalatable though that sounds, and as contrary as it is towards marketing campaigns, maybe it’s hard to blame them.
People who needlessly hype up Scottish football and its humdrum achievements are far more problematic than those who can see bigger and better things elsewhere. Celtic are now suffering from a skewed focus.
(The Guardian)
