Not all Champions League ‘winners’ take the trophy home in May. In 2009 Michel Platini, in his wisdom, decided that there were not enough champions in the Champions League, as a result of well-resourced also-rans from the large leagues crowding out table-toppers from the small leagues. The competition format was changed, champions from smaller nations would compete against each other.
The result of the change is that five champions from smaller leagues are guaranteed entry into the tournament. Conversely, runners up from the smaller leagues need to fight it out against non-champions from the big leagues, like Arsenal and Manchester United. The concern expressed at the time was that the flood of money gained by champions from the small countries would impact their leagues. ‘Good’, said a few of us.
Champions League money can double the income some clubs earn in a year. Successful Champions League entrants’ ability to compete would be greatly enhanced, perhaps meaning they jump into a virtuous circle, strengthening and qualifying in subsequent years.
There have been 30 places up for grabs in the champions route since, but the qualification performance stats isn’t what was expected by many. 22 teams have qualified but only six have done so more than once. Two, BATE Borisov and APOEL Nicosia, are the only teams to go one step better and qualify three times. Curiously, only BATE and Celtic have qualified in back to back seasons, no one has managed three in a row.
For all the riches the Champions League brings to Celtic, and teams far more impoverished than them, successful teams seem to encounter the classic Nouveau Riche problem. All this money and they don’t know how best to invest it in order to make sure they get another payday.
Qualification itself is not costless in competitive terms. It’s likely each team who punches through the barrier to reach the Promised Land, has to suffer the cost of exertion and distraction, which the visits of Europe’s aristocracy inevitably brings.
Then there’s the question of what to do with the money. Your best players get a shop window, encouraging them to run down their contracts. Your manager is likely to be off too. You have to find candidates further down the food chain, either in a lesser-still league, or at a club in your own land who are prepared to sell to you. And remember, this New Money is in the hands of people largely unaccustomed to spending at that level. You can afford to sign a €3m player, but the most expensive player you’ve previously worked with cost €200k. Those who can spot a great €200k player are not necessarily experienced enough to spend €3m wisely.
APOEL Nicosia and BATE Borisov have managed what the other 20 teams have struggled to replicate. Both are in this season’s play-offs and are favourites to go one stage further again. If BATE achieve this, they will have been group stage entrants four seasons out of five, so sustainable success not impossible.
Last week produced signs that eventually the cream is rising to the top. Eight of the 10 clubs in this season’s play-offs have reached the group stage through the champions route before, with the other two, Astana (v APOEL) and Albania’s Skenderbeu (v Dinamo Zagreb) odds against making it. For the first time it’s likely all five champions’ qualifiers will former graduates. The current highest number to qualify in one season is two.
So although the 30 places have been filled by 22 clubs from a remarkably diverse 17 countries, the pool of genuine competitors is approaching a limit.
Here’s the challenge, for Celtic and the rest. Your Champions League is a distinct competition to the headline grabbing tournament graced by Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Yours is being won by BATE Borisov. They are the team who have figured out what’s needed to come through this summer test with most consistency.
There are five places up for grabs. BATE and APOEL are doing their best to make sure their names are against two of those places. Celtic can grab another slot, but Malmo, Basel and Salzburg, as well as the Czechs, Israelis, Danes, Poles and other Eastern European teams, want their piece of the action too. A win against Malmo would go a long way towards flipping resources in Celtic’s favour, but whatever the outcome, being better than the rest of this geographically diverse group of small-nation clubs should be our immediate target.
Happy Birthday 50th to the Celtic View, the world’s first football club newspaper. Congratulations to the many who have contributed to the View over the years.
Can’t believe the news coverage John Collins comment has received. When he heard Derek McInnes’ backlash (cough) he must have looked around for a dressing room full of Hibs players.
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Weefra
Aye nae bother
Delaney’s , your mum sounds a real character.
I hope the bar staff will have a pint waiting for you at 7.45 pm
Morning Timland from a warm hun free mountain valley.
Decent game tonight.
HH
Buick Makane
That’s how I saw it too but then they didn’t teach us code breaking at St Denis’
Wee Fra,
You are beginnin’ to sound like the auld neighbour who would shout at the local kids and stick knives in their ‘ba when it went into the garden. You will continue to be the subject of ridicule until you take a reality check.
You really need to develop a sense of humour.
Oh! BTW, No offence meant or intended.
Oneneillennon- just go into you-tube and search for ‘install genesis’. POP.
Weefra, Celtic are our team and always will be.
I hope , what appearsto be , the never ending rainfall , has not affected the farm to much.
Take care let’s hope we are celebrating a victory tomorrow night and that joker, hammil , does not injure any of our players.
We are safe from Elbows , he’s not fit for the game.
Borgo
Lost trust?
I would welcome some rain to fall on my garden, it’s a bitch trying to grow stuff in this heat, add in the soil is basicly mud, tis a struggle.
HH
channelislandcelt
No offence intended. You just followed the sheepish assholes who think they actually support Celtic. Sorry if you were offended, but look at the other crap I have to contend with. Lol.
Dallas
Aye, I will phone Rab my order when I leave the work. 5 mins later my Guinness should be ready. Haha
Not offended at all fra, just rather embarrassed for your good self .
DD
No idea to be fair.
Spoken to loads of sevco fans over the last few weeks and they have really bought into the baker .
I wonder if these are the first signs their little bubble is going to burst.
Delaney’s , great customer service,marvellous.
Time for sleep.
Good night all and sleep well.
Kilmarnock will be green and white tomorrow night.
TEUCHTER ÁR LÁ on 11TH AUGUST 2015 11:22 PM
Wee Fra,
You are beginnin’ to sound like the auld neighbour who would shout at the local kids and stick knives in their ‘ba when it went into the garden. You will continue to be the subject of ridicule until you take a reality check.
You really need to develop a sense of humour.
Oh! BTW, No offence meant or intended.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/celtics-real-champions-league-competition/comment-page-9/#comment-2650686
No offence taken. Read way back and tell me I’m out of order.
Dallas Dallas
:-))))
Weefra HH praying to Wee Oscar.
Thanks to everyone that replied in respect of tickets for Dublin 2016.
I will get to the rest of the e mails tomorrow.
Anyone else interested in coming, dublin2016@mail.com
Clogher
Griffiths or Cifci against Malmo?
Griffiths is sharper than Chewbacca’s razor. R2D2 is more mobile than Cifci. C3PO packs a greater punch than our Turk.
Has to be Grif.
We need to be kinder and gentler to one another.
My dear dead mum told me “If you can’t say something nice, SHUT IT.”
I have memories of my first trip to Killie.
It was a warm sunny mid week game.
Killie brought a huge ram with enormous horns on to the park and it grazed behind the goals.
I think they were discouraging a pitch invasion.
Channelislandcelt
Aye, that’ll be the day. Poor comment. In fact you should get that deleted. IMO. Sad.
WeefratheTim on 11th August 2015 11:34 pm
We had a very welcome thunderstorm today with about 1.5 inches of rain.
First time we got below 80 for a couple of weeks.
Whoever plays up front is going to find it tough as we now are adopting a more cautious approach in these big games .
Thought Ciftci did well enough in the two Qarabag games despite looking short of fitness .
Sorry previous post was meant for
THE EXILED TIM on 11th August 2015 11:26 pm
Too many distractions
The ol Bacardi has a lot to answer for so it does.
Interesting that clubs in our situation lose their manager and then replace with a chap who has been used to shopping in the bargain bin.
We havent signed a player for more than 3 million now for years. That’s 3 managers now who have all worked with the same regardless of them being a rookie, a chequered management history or success in a lower ranked league.
Our average player cost must be about a million in the last 2 or 3 seasons. I don’t imagine that will change even if we do sell VVD for low teens and get access to the additional prize money in the Champions League.
I imagine with the que getting longer for VvD we are ramping up towards 13 million. Champions League prize money and tv will clear that again. Going on the proviso we have needed 10 million to fill The Oldco hole we have an extra 10 million or so to play with IF we beat Malmo. Biton looks like next years VVD and johansen will always interest someone who wants energy for North of 5 million. I’m not hawking Celtic players before anyone starts. This is a Celtic blog. It’s unlikely that scouts from Bayer Leverkusen it such like take my word for player values. Getting to the point though, I can’t see us changing any variable based on additional income. The managr might change but the model to win the league and qualify won’t.
Ronny is the right manager at this time to manage the resources we have, get blood from the stone. If he has a good season someone might overlook the blip and offer him a Job next season. John Collins and or john Kennedy lie in wait. The model stays the same.
Whether it’s BATE Maribor or Malmo, we still have a higher football budget. The chances are we should qualify in any one season. What we should be looking to do is get beyond the qualifier and increase our coefficient. Get blood fom the stone by all means… I agree with that but we should be looking beyond the current transfer model to make a further difference. I believe Ronny is actively challenging that wisdom.
Why not play both Griffiths and Cidtci?
Dallas
Have you heard the tribute to Anthony H Wilson called Saint Anthony. Great Manc musicians involved. Great poetry and tribute to Mr Factory Records.
Borgo
Good school but Bletchley Park it wasn’t;)
Was in Maryhill on Sunday and will be in Ayrshire tomorrow . No bad for a kiddy on Celtic fan ……………apology accepted .
Channel island celt
But yive no been to cqn corner ya kiddy on supporter
GG
Three years ago, we had a bad summer, by bad I mean no rain and searing heat for months, this year has already surpassed that, haven’t had a drop since the end of March, and thankfully it’s been below 40 this week, the Olive crop will be devastated, I feel for the farmers who are trying to make a living in these conditions, I can water my bit, they can’t, even the rivers have dried up.
But they just have to get on with things, no subsidies for these folks.
HH
‘GG on 11TH AUGUST 2015 11:39 PM
WeefratheTim on 11th August 2015 11:34 pm
We had a very welcome thunderstorm today with about 1.5 inches of rain.
First time we got below 80 for a couple of weeks.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/celtics-real-champions-league-competition/comment-page-9/#comment-2650696
Brilliant news for yourselves. Fortunately I have had a fantastic life before I found this blog, and have absolutely adored the input from all on here, so why are things changing so much. Anyhoos, we are still on the up here, and thankfully require no support from any others to survive. So we are having a fantastic life here just as normal. Just trying to decide which new car we want. Hmmmm.
Weefra HH praying to Wee Oscar.
Why would Warburton and Weir not be happy. Their supporters can look forward to the pan loaf man taking them 15 points clear by Xmas and challenging Celtic by late summer 2016. It’s not as though he was promised mullions and didn’t get it.
I’m sure those issues we saw before with loans and that won’t come back to bite them.
Wits
Gonna have to steer clear of that corner ….sounds well dodgy ;))
Reckon Ciftci will play up front that’s why we bought him, and despite the armchair experts he still has the jersey.
Griffiths isn’t fit or physical enough, to lead the line in a European game, but as RD regularly uses all his subs, he’ll still get on the pitch, at some stage.
Well capable of scoring at Rugby Park tomorrow night, is Leigh
WITS
And then I came across a ……. I won’t poison the blog.
Too late….Arghhhhhh
Wee Fra
I have just caught up on this thread and never noticed anything……
Seriously, Don’t let anyone get you down – It shows a weakness that is being used against you.
As channelislandcelt pointed out – It is becoming embarrassing and there’s folk here trying to offer advice rather than the perceived as havin’ a go at you.
Be smart, smile, laugh and remember – Life’s too short.
HH
See you at the Coarner one day.
Oh! and nae bombin’ anyone….OK :-)