SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all.

The big news in European football today will be the draws for the next stages of the three major European club trophies. The big news there in midweek was the demise of some big names in the game, such as AC Milan, Juventus and Atalanta, and especially Man City. Since they were up against Real Madrid, the big news could have been even bigger, given that they have won five out of the last nine tournaments. 

The three Italian teams going out does the country’s chances of grabbing that fifth Champions League spot no favours at all. That looks like being a three-way between England, Spain and Germany for the two spots available. In which case, a lot is riding on the remaining participants from those tournaments. 

One of which is obviously Bayern Munich. That was the big news item this week for us Celtic fans. As we know, we gave it everything only to be suckered and scuppered by a scrappy goal with virtually the last kick of the game. As I said in Wednesday’s article, every one of the players came off the pitch a hero. Beaten over the two legs of course, but far from disgraced. And announcing to the rest of the European game that the days of being a pushover at this level are gone. 

Whether they are gone for good remains to be seen. A lot depends on the next transfer window in particular. My colleague MAHE said yesterday that it is time to spend the cash, and I couldn’t agree more. How long have we looked at our preferred starting XI and thought it looked good, but could be better? Actually, not that long! For years we knew that our team was ill-equipped at this level, and it is only recently that we have looked to be in reasonable shape for the challenge. 

In those not so distant days, we had a bench which was fairly interchangeable with the starting line-up. Not a lot to choose between them. Mainly because so many of the entire squad were substandard at the required level. That is not the case these days. Certainly there is a substantial gap between those we are comfortable with at the start, and those available to replace them. 

Now more than ever, with the increasing number of games being thrown at us, we need a bigger pool of quality players to choose from. A back of the fag packet calculation of how many games would be required for us to reach the same stage in Europe next year plus runs to both cup finals comes to sixty games. (I’m happy to be corrected on this one, of course!) That is way too many for any player, especially established internationalists who can be required to hit double figures for their country as well. 

If you look at our bench on Tuesday night with Forrest and Bernardo missing through injury, I would say only Jota was of the required quality to fit in seamlessly. I wouldn’t have too many worries either about Scales, Ralston and McCowan, nor Taylor. But the rest were either youths,Yang and two keepers. That is simply not enough to get us through next season, even if we are as lucky with injuries and suspensions as we have been this season.

Yet how do we convince players to join us when we can only offer a realistic shot at the bench? Or, which of our regular starters are we going to say isn’t good enough? Worse, which of our regular starters is going to angle for a move, which means replacing with like-for-like or better? How does the manager persuade a notoriously risk-averse board to dig out the debit card over the summer and spend some of the accumulated wealth on the team, a team which might have just won another treble and has already done us proud in Europe? 

How does he react if, as has been the case in the past, he is told that the players he has are obviously good enough, given the recent successes? Even though they will all be a year older, even though some of them may be agitating for that big move while the iron is hot? How will the fans react if their reward for all the years of downsizing, decline and planned obsolescence is to see that make a comeback, only this time with bells on? In fact, will the fans and the manager vote with their feet as they have done before, the fans by staying away again and the manager by deciding not to extend his contract? 

These are heavy questions to be considered as we head towards the final stages of the current season, a season which we all hope will end in domestic glory. A season which ended in Europe with heroic failure after some magnificent performances. The manager should be sitting down with the board over the next five or six weeks, especially during the international break, and thrashing out all the issues. 

His budget. The wage ceiling. The areas of the team that need strengthening, whether those recruited are to be first-team ready or just upgraded replacements on the bench. Uncle Tom Cobley and all, so to speak. They should also be thrashing out the details of the manager’s contract as a matter of urgency, though I would fully understand any reluctance on his part to sign anything before the end of the next transfer window! And then they can sit down with the full management and coaching teams over all the age groups and categories in our academy and figure out what has gone wrong in the last two decades, and how to get it fixed. 

We cannot continue to throw money at this only to see our decent talents poached and those we decide aren’t good enough either leave the game completely or move down the domestic ladder. Joining Celtic as a youth should be a career opportunity, and many have gone on to have a career in the game. But not at the standard we require, which is why only Tierney, CalMac and Forrest have broken through to be regulars in the last fifteen years. 

So yes, Tuesday night was a night to remember. Yes, this season has every chance of being one to remember too. But we are a long way short of the finished article, a long way short of where we need to be to take the next steps forward. The ball is very firmly in the board’s court. They can look back especially at the last four windows in particular to see which of the two policies in place worked best, and make their decisions based on that. The days of being risk-averse to the point of wasting millions on dross rather than investing in genuine quality have to be a thing of the past. Trust the footballing side of the club to do their job, which is to bring success on the pitch domestically and in Europe. And then,who knows? We might even begin to trust the financial side of the club to do their job too by simply bringing in the money to enable that. 

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Above article by BMCUWP