Send out your B Team for an away game after losing at home and you should not be disappointed in the outcome. The first half was as unstructured a performance as we have seen since the summer. The pitch, which was terrible, can only take so much responsibility.
Stephen Welsh had a nervous return to the side, one of several poor passes fell short of Nir Bitton and led to the opening goal. The second was perhaps the poorest of the many Celtic lost across both legs. Bodo/Glimt didn’t so much break as saunter forward. Anthony Ralston watched the ball, not the player peeling off behind him. Nir Bitton was skin-tight to Vetlesen, but also watched the ball, and allowed his man time to cushion a shot into the net. It was all too easy for Bodo.
Ange, you made your call, we all know this was one you deprioritised, we will all forgive you if the masterplan comes together. Rather this than sorry tales come May.
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Ange re Kyogo…
“I WOULDN’T PUT ANY TIMEFRAMES ON IT. KYOGO, IT’S JUST HIS NATURE; HE’S WORKING REALLY HARD TO GET BACK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
“WHETHER THAT’S DURING THE NEXT INTERNATIONAL BREAK OR JUST AFTER, WE’LL HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE. HE WON’T BE FAR OFF.
“I HAVE A REALLY GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH THE JAPANESE MANAGER; I’VE KNOWN HIM FOR QUITE A WHILE. HE’S BEEN REALLY SUPPORTIVE OF OUR STANCE.
“KYOGO IS WORKING REALLY HARD, BUT I WOULDN’T PUT ANY TIMEFRAME ON IT.”
Definitely a hunterloper.
Can we do something about the attention seeking bore
go ahead.
Why do Celtic still underperform in Europe?
By Kieran Devlin 3h ago
To say the decision was polarising would be a grand understatement.
Ange Postecoglou elected to effectively field a B team in Celtic’s second leg last night away to Bodo/Glimt. The implication being that Sunday’s league game at Hibernian was the priority, and blowing out the candle on any hopes of progression to the last 16 of the Europa Conference League was worth the cost of resting key players for that fixture. Any romances of a surprise miracle from Celtic’s rag-tag team of back-ups in northern Norway was quickly undermined by their conceding a cheap goal after only nine minutes.
The first-half viewing at the Aspmyra Stadium was grim. Celtic’s squad players were sloppy in possession and timid defensively. It was always going to be a tall order for such a group to perform cohesively as a unit, but the contrast with a side as well-drilled and cohesive as their hosts was stark. The occasion felt more like a training match than a tantalising European night.
Much of the damage was done in last week’s 3-1 first leg defeat at Celtic Park and Bodo/Glimt’s 100 per cent home record in this competition this formidable. But the tie was not unsalvageable by any means, and given Celtic improved after Callum McGregor and Liel Abada were introduced at half-time, it inevitably, uneasily prompted a feeling of “what if the manger had gone full-strength?”.
It brings another European campaign to yet another underwhelming close, as has become the norm for some years, and yet another opportunity to cast off this woeful knockout-phase record in Europe passes by — Ben Doak, the 16-year-old who made his Celtic senior debut last month, was not born the last time the club won a European tie after Christmas.
March 25, 2004. A teenage David Marshall and a 20-year-old John Kennedy were instrumental in preserving Celtic’s 1-0 aggregate lead over Frank Rijkaard’s Barcelona, with a resolute 0-0 draw at the Nou Camp. It meant Martin O’Neill’s side progressed to the UEFA Cup quarter-finals, before their elimination to a gifted Villarreal team flaunting Juan Riquelme, Juliano Belletti, Pepe Reina and Sonny Anderson.
As good a side as Villarreal were, there was also some mild disappointment they could not go close to replicating — or in an ideal world surpassing — their achievements from the previous season, when they were beaten in the UEFA Cup final by Jose Mourinho’s Porto. Yet fans would bite your hand off for a Europa League quarter-final these days. Eighteen years later, that victory over Barcelona remains the last time Celtic won a post-Christmas knock-out tie in Europe.
Why do Celtic continue to underperform so dramatically in Europe? It is helpful breaking that underperformance into two areas which often overlap; why they are routinely eliminated by teams with a fraction of their playing budgets and revenue in Champions League qualifiers, and why they fail to make a dent in the European competition proper.
Their eliminations to Legia Warsaw (2014-15), Maribor (2014-15), Malmo (2015-16), AEK Athens (2018-19), CFR Cluj (2019-20), Ferencvaros (2020-21) and FC Midtjylland (2021-22) owe a tremendous deal to how thin the squad was at the time, with recruitment each season geared towards readiness for the league season rather than organised in time for these important fixtures.
This was especially the case in central defence. Over the past five years Celtic have had to start their third- and fourth-choice centre-backs like Efe Ambrose, Stephen Welsh and Jack Hendry; untested academy players like Eoghan O’Connell and Dane Murray; or makeshift options like right-back Mikael Lustig and midfielder Nir Bitton. Although Bitton has developed a reputation as a back-up defender over the years, its origin was Brendan Rodgers being left with no other option for navigating the 2017-18 qualifiers.
Backfiring tactics and ineffective game preparation is another running theme that overlaps both Champions League qualifiers and no progression after Christmas.
For instance, the lack of control over the middle of the pitch was pivotal in their losses to Cluj and Ferencvaros in Champions League qualification, and against FC Copenhagen and Bodo/Glimt in recent knock-out ties. Acres of space in midfield for the opposition to exploit in transition seems to be a recurring theme regardless of who is manager; whether that is Rodgers, Ange Postecoglou, Ronny Deila or Neil Lennon. Celtic perpetually seem to enable their opponents’ best qualities, while not protecting their own fallibilities.
There are so many varying factors for each knock-out tie lost and each features their own specific problems, but there is one overarching issue that the club return to when confronted by their disappointing showings on the European stage: the game’s changed financial landscape.
Celtic’s underperformance in Europe was brought up at last year’s AGM, to which chairman Ian Bankier responded: “If we talk about Europe, it’s a much different environment to what it was 20 years ago. We all know that, you know that. You go into the Champions League and you get absolutely pasted by the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona. Celtic Football Club is not the Qatar Government. There’s a whole set of different players out there with completely different pockets.”
Shareholders at the AGM then pointed out that the list of clubs who eliminated Celtic from six of the last eight Champions League qualifiers had their respective budgets dwarfed by Celtic’s. Bankier replied: “I accept that, but it’s a game of football, and if the players don’t give you one hundred per cent then you can be beaten by anybody.”
It follows former CEO Peter Lawwell’s comments to the 2019 AGM that Ajax comparisons were not appropriate because the Dutch side’s resurgence in the Champions League — this the season after they reached the semi-finals led by Erik ten Hag — was based on them developing a young team capable of challenging in Europe over a number of years, while going four seasons without winning the league.
Lawwell asked the questioning shareholder, rhetorically, whether seeing Rangers win the league for four consecutive seasons would be an acceptable trade-off for reaching the Champions League semi-finals.
While Rangers were outside the top flight for four seasons between 2012 and 2016, Celtic were left without a demanding domestic challenge to capture their attention, and so were handed an unprecedented opportunity to focus on making their mark on Europe. When they reached the Champions League Last 16 in 2012-13, there looked like a possibility of building something special over the subsequent years.
Yet their European performances and results over the following seasons until Rodgers’ arrival regressed. They finished bottom of their 2013-14 Champions League group, were eliminated in Champions League qualification in 2014-15 — but reached the Europa League last 32 — and then in 2015-16, failed to qualify from their Europa League group.
Over this period some key players were sold. For example, their 2012-13 annual accounts recorded a pre-tax profit of £9.74 million after their run to the last 16 of the Champions League that season. In the summer of 2013, they also sold Kelvin Wilson to Nottingham Forest, Victor Wanyama to Southampton, and Gary Hooper to Norwich City — arguably their best centre-back, central midfielder and striker at the time — which contributed to a pre-tax profit of £11.7 million for their 2013-14 accounts.
A little more than £8 million was reinvested into the squad that summer, though while it brought two success stories in Virgil van Dijk and Nir Bitton, there were also underwhelming signings Teemu Pukki, Amido Balde, Derk Boerrigter — the most expensive at £3m — and Steven Mouyokolo.
The loss of Wanyama and Hooper’s quality in particular was keenly felt on the European stage as they finished bottom of their Champions League group with three points.
Even without financial backing, clubs outside the top five European divisions still go deep into the Europa League; the table below lists those from these countries who have reached the Europa League quarter-finals since its rebranding from the UEFA Cup in 2009-10.
Non-Top 5 League EL quarter-finalists
2009-10
Benfica, Standard Liege
2010-11
Braga, Dynamo Kyiv, Porto, PSV Eindhoven, Spartak Moscow, FC Twente
2011-12
AZ Alkmaar, Metalist Kharkiv, Sporting Lisbon
2012-13
Benfica, Fenerbahce, Basel, Rubin Kazan
2013-14
Benfica, AZ Alkmaar, Basel, Porto
2014-15
Dnipro, Club Bruges, Dynamo Kyiv, Zenit Saint Petersburg
2015-16
Shakhtar Donetsk, Sparta Prague, Braga
2016-17
Ajax, Genk, Anderlecht, Besiktas
2017-18
Red Bull Salzburg, Sporting Lisbon, CSKA Moscow
2018-19
Slavia Prague, Benfica
2019-20
Shakhtar, Basel, Copenhagen
2020-21
Dinamo Zagreb, Slavia Prague, Ajax
There are a number of names you would expect, and might place in the European tier above Celtic — Porto, Benfica, Ajax and Shakhtar Donetsk, for example. But there are plenty Celtic would like to believe are below them in European prominence as a club — as well as having smaller revenues and playing budgets — including Prague duo Sparta and Slavia, Dnipro, Metalist Kharkiv, AZ Alkmaar (twice), Standard Liege, Genk and the FC Copenhagen side who eliminated Celtic in the 2019-20 competition.
That list also excludes the five years of UEFA Cup competition prior to its rebranding but after O’Neill’s Celtic beat Barcelona, including quarter-finals featuring Austria Vienna, Levski Sofia and Rapid Bucharest.
In some cases, Celtic would not be expected to progress against some sides they met after Christmas; Inter Milan in 2014-15, Zenit St. Petersburg in 2017-18, or Valencia in 2018-19. Yet, similarly, they were not expected to be beaten by those Champions League qualifier sides, or by Copenhagen and Bodo/Glimt. Celtic have been consistently beaten by sides less wealthy, while never defeating the sides wealthier than them.
Another reason for the poor showings might be that for eight of those 18 seasons in the knock-out victory wilderness, Celtic were in the Champions League group stages. Competing at the higher level of European competition makes elimination as the fourth-placed side likely, removing any prospect of post-Christmas football. But Basel also reached the Champions League group stages in seven of the last 18 seasons, and since 2004-05 they have won 10 UEFA Cup and Europa League knockout ties after Christmas.
Basel are perhaps the most pertinent club for comparison. While Ajax was the club yelled out in response to Bankier’s “absolutely pasted” insistence in the AGM, and the rise of Red Bull Salzburg has prompted some to wonder why the Austrian club’s model cannot be followed, realistically Celtic have neither the global support network of the Red Bull group nor the infrastructure of Ajax that has taken decades to build.
But Basel’s success should be a red flag. The Swiss side and Celtic were in the 2017-18 edition of the Champions League, so both benefitted from that income. A KPMG report recorded that that year Celtic had revenues of €105 million, while Basel’s revenue was €62 million. Match-day and broadcasting income especially were significantly lower than Celtic’s; €43.7 million and €42.5 million respectively for Celtic, €29.6 million and €16.0 million for Basel.
Yet over the past decade, Basel have reached the Champions League last 16 three times, the Europa League semi-finals once, and the latter competition’s quarter-finals twice more on top of that run to the final four in 2012-13 — while Celtic have that solitary Champions League last 16 appearance that same season. The Swiss side, during the Rodgers years, recorded roughly three-fifths of Celtic’s total revenue and continue to bring in vastly lower matchday income. So why do they consistently perform much better in Europe?
There is no easy answer, but there feels a disconnect with fans who believe progress in Europe, and the treasured memories often created to get there, is almost as integral to Celtic’s identity as their domestic success.
At the 2020 AGM, Lawwell described Celtic as a “Champions League club” despite their absence from that competition for three years.
It is now four years and counting, and given they could not even qualify for the Europa Conference League’s last 16, any self-image as a relevant European name looks to be entirely that; a fixation on the legacy of the past, rather than reflected in current reality.
NOTTHEBUS on 25TH FEBRUARY 2022 4:59 PM
Paul
Can we do something about the nutter?
Which wan 😜
ST TAMS on 25TH FEBRUARY 2022 5:06 PM
Can we do something about the attention seeking bore
Which wan 😜 ?
Guys – Paul rules are quite simple – no swearing – no personal abuse – nothing about which team you support (unfortunately).
any wan, all them wans, and them other wans as well an awe noo
Aw cum oan I’ll have nothing to scroll by…😂😂😜😜
IMO and many will disagree but our biggest impediment to going forward has kinda departed and we seem so far to be bringing in players that the manager wants, from the shambles that he took over a few short months ago we are in a great position, a rebuild takes time, afford him the time, there will be disappointments along the way for sure, but I would wager that not a single poster who is stamping his feet about our lack of this and that and our euro exploits would have thot that we would have won a cup and be top of the league, to say otherwise is delusional and lies, we are getting there and again I reiterate it will take time.
Brutal tie for the Sevco.
Belgrade without doubt the worst and most hostile place I ever watched football.
Red Star v EBT doped Rangers back in 2007 CL qualifier.
Terrifying.
THE EXILED TIM
Spot on. Just what I was saying in an earlier post this morning.
Horses for courses. Stubborn, organised Norwegians on plastic was in reality something that did not suit Celtic. The yellow jerseys were eerily reminiscent of a better class version of Livingston. Any teams that beats Roma 6-1 are clearly no mugs. Having said that we need to improve massively. Celtic managers are recruited on the basis of a certain ideology for playing football the Celtic way. Clearly, with the personal at our disposal we are ill equipped to succeed with such ideals in the European arena.
On the other side of the city everything fell into their hands, an ageing Matts Hummels and colleagues defending man for man on the halfway line was something that a fully fit Kyogo and Abada and Jota would have enjoyed. Dortmund were missing their star man and didn’t seem to have a mental edge for the occasion. It must however be recognised as a significant result. Going to Ibrox isn’t going to be for the faint hearted.
The most important fixture is the next one and a big 3 points on Sunday resets everything just nicely. We have an advantage of 3 points but also have free midweeks to regroup for what can only be described as 11 cup finals.
Like Whackamole on here now…..
Hibs will be without 9 first team squad players on Sunday due to illness, injury and ineligibility (Euan Henderson).
TOM MCLAUGHLIN on 25TH FEBRUARY 2022 5:42 PM
“Hibs will be without 9 first team squad players on Sunday due to illness, injury and ineligibility (Euan Henderson).”
I’m always very wary of scenarios like that TOM, por cierto
Tom
Thought Euan was a Hibs player now
GENE on 25TH FEBRUARY 2022 5:45 PM
Tom
Thought Euan was a Hibs player now
————
its a loan to buy deal i think
Tom
I read some of the details about that, if I’ve got it right none of the guys that are missing have played in their first team recently, certainly the team that beat Ross County at the weekend will all be available, so we are definitely not playing a ‘weakened’ Hibs team unfortunately.
Just reading that Fordstam limited, Chelsea FC parent company (Abramovic) provided them with a $2 billion loan.
Dundee United are allocating the shed behind the goals for the cup tie. That means there will be a much reduced allocation to Celtic supporters.
Both clubs share the gate receipts 50/50 for cup games, yet United admit they are unlikely to sell-out the shed.
Wonder when we will see ANGEMUSTGO / RONNIESGREATESTFAN posting again – probably never now! Well certainly not using either of those names again anyway.
David17
Who with a loan chelsea?
Guys,
When the huns drew BD I said it would be a tremendous result if they got through. I did not expect them to go through, but I’m not going to pick faults now with the German team. That seems pointless and frankly, what’s the point.
We have a job to finish so let’s get right behind the team and the manager.
I picked a bad night to sit in and watch football. A few swalliies in the house couldn’t disguise a terrible evening.
Still gutted, but the journey must continue.
HH.
What Celtic supporter would have a moniker Angemustgo or whatever.
Disgraceful
Utterly Disgusting
D :)
Euan Henderson is on loan to Hibs.
Hanlon,Newell,Scott out for Hibs
I had a go at AP for the team he picked against Betis and for the League Cup Final v Hibs
We lost good players to injury on both
Last night AP called it 100% correct
The only show in town is the league
Win on Sunday
Everything else is cream
BTW – we lost to a good team last night
Also worth mentioning they beat (well drew) with a good team last night
They are not dead yet
We have work to do
3 points on Sunday – all that matters
67ECW
DUNDEE UNITED have accused Celtic of refusing to accept lower ticket prices for their Scottish Cup quarter-final.
Tannadice chiefs were forced to accept a figure of £27 by the Hoops even though they wanted to make it cheaper for all fans to attend.
As pressure mounts to punish oligarchs for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Roman Abramovich has a multibillion-dollar insurance policy should the U.K. come after his assets: his beloved Chelsea FC.
The club Abramovich bought for around $190 million in 2003, loved, nurtured and built into the 2021 UEFA Champions League winner was valued by Forbes at $3.2 billion last year. It owes the Russian billionaire, its majority owner, a staggering $2 billion.
Kieran Maguire, a soccer-finance lecturer at the University of Liverpool, says it gives Abramovich no shortage of leverage in the U.K., depending on how deep sanctions might go. The worst-case scenario for Chelsea fans is now on the table. “If he wants to get his own back, he could call in the loan from Chelsea,” Maguire says. “That means Chelsea goes out of business, and Putin will be able to say, ‘Well, you started it.’”
The situation underscores how the unfolding crisis could impact the sports world, especially as many teams scramble to cut ties with Russia. The German Bundesliga’s FC Schalke 04 announced Thursday that it was removing the logo of Russian energy giant Gazprom from its jerseys. Manchester United has yet to comment on its sponsorship with Russia’s biggest airline, Aeroflot, after sanctions prohibited the company from operating in the U.K. And possibly the most severe blow yet: UEFA is moving the Champions League final out of St. Petersburg. Expect more big-draw events to flee Russia.
Forbes calculates Abramovich’s fortune at $13.3 billion, mostly from steelmaking and metals. His name has repeatedly topped the list of oligarchs most likely to face the next round of U.K. sanctions on assets and business interests. Over the last week, Parliament has been forced to address the flow of Russian money into London as U.S. and European Union politicians say they fear loopholes in U.K. rules could derail their punitive measures against Russian aggression.
The most significant attack came today from Labour’s Chris Bryant, who told the house—while he was protected from defamation lawsuits by parliamentary privilege—that Abramovich “should no longer be able to own a [soccer] club in this country,” adding that the U.K. “should be looking at seizing some of his assets, including his £152 million ($200 million) home.” A spokesperson for Abramovich didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The latest annual accounts for Fordstam Ltd, Chelsea’s parent company, confirm a $2 billion loan “provided by the ultimate controlling party, Mr. R Abramovich.” Over the past year, Abramovich loaned Chelsea another $26 million even as the club lifted the Champions League trophy in June 2021.
Maguire describes the loans as leverage against any significant attack on his assets. “The club does not have the resources to pay the money back,” Maguire says. “If Chelsea was sold, ultimately you sell for enterprise value. Whether this money goes in the form of equity or debt is irrelevant. But the club, potentially, could be on the hook here because he could demand the money back.” Maguire says Abramovich could effectively argue that his assets are frozen, he needs the money, “and then the club ceases to be.”
A potential Chelsea buyer would need deep pockets. The price paid for Newcastle United by a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund—around $300 million—shows that there may be better value in smaller clubs that buyers can grow and shape themselves.
The Abramovich situation raises a broader question of whether the Premier League, or any top-tier European soccer organization, needs to rethink who it lets into its ownership ranks, according to Kenneth Cortsen, a sports economist at University College of Northern Denmark.
The Premier League’s Owners’ and Directors’ Test, for example, screens a number of factors, including a lack of criminal convictions, violations against a governing sports body, and financial viability. (Abramovich passes on all of them.) But rising player wages, the pressure of competing at the highest level and the impact of Covid-19 are just some of the monetary strains that have made soccer more vulnerable to questionable ownership. The circumstances behind the sale of Newcastle United, and now Chelsea, have prompted review from the league. The fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine has only complicated matters. The Premier League declined to comment.
“Russia has not been a positive association for international sports in recent years, with systematic doping, sports washing and other incidents linked to negative reputational capital,” Cortsen says. “Why do we allow ownership of some of the most important sports assets, in the case of Chelsea, on U.K. soil to people with connections to, in this case, Russia, given everything that has happened?”
Of course, just because he could doesn’t mean Abramovich would cause the financial collapse of one of the most famous clubs in Europe, just to spite the U.K. government. However, he showed what he was capable of by aiding in the formation of the breakaway Super League before leading the exodus against it. The option to wreck his treasured Chelsea is still on the table.
“People have talked about solidarity and protecting the European [soccer] pyramid,” Cortsen says. “But at the same time, they have allowed people to go for the money without really diving into, at an in-depth level, what that means.”
David Dawkins
GREENPINATA on 25TH FEBRUARY 2022 5:52 PM
He played a weaker team than the won that lost at Parkhead, almost unanimous on here that the Rogic / O’Riley midfield partnership was a flop that night, when I saw them again as the midfield pairing – right away I thought the games a bogey. Both very good players but as a duo we had already seen (and so did Ange) that it didn’t work.
Is Abramovich not an Israeli citizen?
Tom
I said something similar after the game last night, but it got lost in among all the entitlement posts >:)
Abramovich and his ilk are the good gangsters, they contribute serious monies to the UK and more specifically the tory coffers.
Putin is in the same club as all the other leaders, and we ain’t in it.
GeorgeCarlinCSC
He has Russian Israeli and Portuguese passports I believe.
Àng may be on his last legs. Good about giving dembele and doak game time. Defonwe need signings wingers and left back please
LONDON — The U.K. has scrapped a visa scheme that allowed wealthy foreign nationals to settle in the country in exchange for bringing some of their wealth with them, amid a clampdown on Russian dirty money.
British Home Secretary Priti Patel announced Thursday she is axing the Tier 1 Investor visa scheme immediately, following pressure on the U.K. government over illicit finance linked to the Kremlin.
Also known as the golden visa scheme, this route has allowed investors and businesspeople from overseas, including countries often at odds with the U.K. like Russia and China, to achieve a fast-track residence status in return for bringing over £2 million to Britain.
Patel said closing this scheme “is just the start of our renewed crackdown on fraud and illicit finance,” which will also include a long-delayed Economic Crime Bill to boost transparency around foreign ownership of real estate.
“I have zero tolerance for abuse of our immigration system,” Patel said, insisting her proposal would help stop “corrupt elites who threaten our national security and push dirty money around our cities.”
As of the end of March 2020, the government had issued 2,581 visas to Russian citizens since the Tier 1 Investor visa scheme was introduced in 2008.
In 2020, the U.K. parliament’s intelligence and security committee called for a “more robust” approach to issuing Tier 1 visas as part of a major report flagging Russian influence on the U.K.
Although changes were introduced over the years, including checks on the origins of applicants’ wealth, cross-party MPs had piled pressure on Patel to scrap the route, arguing London needed to shake its image as a top destination for money laundering.
The Home Office said it will soon publish a report on the scheme, including the findings of an investigation into 700 Russian millionaires who were granted one of these visas between 2008 and 2015.