Europa door ajar for Celtic

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When we drew Maribor I wrote about their performance in last season’s Europa League, when they were eliminated by eventual winners, Sevilla.  Our man, Blaz, in Slovenia, also warned me that this was a settled team who had improved since ending Rangers’ interest in European football three years ago.

I watched Red Bull Salzburg destroy Ajax in Amsterdam last season with some sublime football, and my pal in Austria tells me not to put too much store in their 3-0 humbling by Malmo, who, apparently, rode their luck to an incredible degree.  Having said that, on the balance of probabilities, they are by far the top seed we would have chosen.

As Croatia Zagreb, Dinamo Zagreb bossed Celtic out of the Champions League play-off round in 1998, our first attempt at the tournament.  Zagreb’s stock has fallen since, so while you could make a good case to suggest we are far from ready to tackle any European team right now, this is a good draw.  They are also not Legia Warsaw, which would have been an unwelcome confrontation at this time.

So far, so good.  Then we draw a complete unknown from pot 4, who happened to eliminate Lyon in the last round.

Between now and the middle of next month Celtic have to be ready for these challenges.  We have an opportunity to progress in the Europa League, earn some badly needed coefficient points, and revenue in the second half of the season.

Bring it on.

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3,233 Comments

  1. goldstar10

     

     

    If he doesn’t come we still have to pull up a striker otherwise we can say the scouting system is a total failure and needs to be reconstructed, we may be a bit down at the moment at Celtic but the idea that we can’t find a striker to sign for us is something that cannot be accepted on any level.

     

     

    A hero please Celtic..

  2. Marrakesh Express on

    Admin for Sevco should be a 10 pt docking for first offence.They should still make the top 2.

     

    If the new club end up in bigot boneyard through liquidation, thats another 3 years in the cooler, barring some league revamp (which come to think of it is a cert). Anyway I wonder how PL is weighing up that possibility.

  3. Hold fire on Scepovic … Think about the timing of his announced arrival? Handy, eh ?

     

     

    Maybe he was never coming?

     

     

    Think about today’s baloni… ‘We do mot want VVD to ho’… Handy tomorrow when justifying his departure, eh?

  4. The Green Man

     

     

    Pal.. Ah wid toss whit ye Say… Right Back at Ye..

     

     

     

    YOU are the Delided Wan..

     

     

    Listen.. Ah wull Try tae Help ye.. oot . here..

     

     

    Peter,is Oan Firm Grun.. when He says the The Sevco’s Absence in The Premier League, Race fur the Marbles..

     

     

    Has, Bin Greatly Missed..

     

     

    That is a Trewism.

     

     

    Because..

     

     

    A Strong Contender , besides Celtic ,is Required tae Mak Things Interesting.

     

     

    The Past Three Years..n,,Has shown that The fans,in General..

     

     

    Wanna see A Competition..

     

     

    No a Procession..

     

     

    A Cake Walk , fur Celtic.

     

     

    Competition is the Life Blood of Any Tournament..

     

     

    The Elimination of oor Strong Rival.. has Caused a Reduction in the Amount of Season Books.. that we sell..

     

     

    This Loss,, is a Big Drag..

     

     

    O,K. .

     

     

    Canny you see… that you Guys who are Holerin fur Us.,, aboot how much ye detest the Sevco..n.. account of that..

     

     

    Ye Don’t wanna see the Sevco in the Same League as Celtic.

     

     

    You Are Behavin foolishly

     

     

    The Loss caused by their Absence, in the League..

     

     

    Translates intae.. Real Dollars n Cents..

     

     

    It is No Mirage.. n..it Hurts us..in a very tender Spot.

     

     

    In Celtic’s Wallet.

     

     

    The Sevco are Needed.. by Celtic…Ah tell Ye..

     

     

    Ah echo.. Mr. Lawwell’s Sentiments..

     

     

    Kojo

     

    Still, Laughin

  5. South Of Tunis on

    Maybe it was a 60s thing but one of the big learning experiences I had when I left home in 68 was discovering that lots of people really really didnt like their parents and deeply regretted having to live with those people for years and years ..

     

     

    I felt fortunate to have parents who allowed me to be myself and to think for myself . I liked my parents.

  6. BIG-CUP-WINNERS on

    Scepovic ? Mmmmm, don’t sound good, wonder what the hold up actually is ? The player or the club, a few predicted the latter would find a way to curtail the signing.

     

     

    If we have no one else under consideration, I think we should try for a stop gap.

     

     

    Wee Maloney is on the periphery of things at Wigan ?

  7. neganon2

     

     

    11:07 on 31 August, 2014

     

     

    I take from that you’ll be booing Celtic today?

  8. Bada bing. Well I think it’s now clear. Bring back sectarianism at any cost…..after all the league will FEEL competitive (in the way that WWWF pretends it’s competitive).

     

     

    What is now also clear is that the club has lied to us all the way down the line and cannot conceive of a life without our submissive role….

     

     

    They have been treading water and making money.

     

     

    Think about it. If we need to sell players to get a profit of £10m isn’t our business bust?? This so called well run club MUST be unsustainable after all.

     

     

    It’s all nonsense. All part of bring back the sectarianism campaign.

     

     

    The mask has slipped…..

  9. the papers here reporting it will be 25 points deduction for a 2ND admin event.

     

     

    same club shite.

  10. South side I won’t be at the game (not a penny more remember).

     

     

    I will be booing from the comfort of my sofa thank you very much.

  11. bournesouprecipe on

    Philbhoy

     

     

    Because we are a selling club that has been eliminated from the CL showing no aspiration?

  12. Kojo

     

     

    Im not buying any of that im afraid.

     

    Celtic do not need Sevco.

     

    PL told us that Celtic stand alone, on our own merits.

     

    That’s the way I like it.

     

    PL will ultimately listen to the supporters,… if he does not.

     

    He will be gone….its clear.

     

    Nobody is bigger than Celtic, not me, or you….or even Peter Lawell.

     

     

    HH

  13. —-

     

     

    My Dear Friend….. Kojo

     

     

    Who Is Lawwell Trying To Kid…

     

     

    By Suggesting That We Are Losing Out On £10M Per Season….

     

     

    In The Absence Of The DeidHuns In The Top Division….?

     

     

    With THEM Toiling In The Lower Divisions…..

     

     

    We Are Virtually Guaranteed The League Title Ever Year….

     

     

    With A Realistic Prospect Of Earning £15-20M….

     

     

    By Qualifying For The Group Stages Of The CL….

     

     

    Whereas If We Finished Runners-Up To The Huns In The League…..

     

     

    We Would Be MUCH LESS Likely To Reach The CL Group Stages….

     

     

    Due To More Daunting Preliminary Round Opponents…..

     

     

    Is Lawwell Trying To Be A Bigger Liar…

     

     

    Than Oor Coarnerboy-Fae-Cambuslang?

     

     

    ~~~~~~

     

     

    Not Unsurprised To Hear That RD Doesn’t Personally Watch Signing Targets….

     

     

    Before He Arrived At Celtic,We Were Told That Stromgodset Director Of Football Scouted And Signed All The Players….

     

     

     

    And RD’s Role Was To Develop Them..

     

     

    ~~~~

     

     

    Wouldn’t Be Surprised To Drop Points At Den’s Park Today…..

     

     

    Lot Of De-Motivated Players In The Squad…

     

     

    Might Force Lawwell’s Hand To Bring In A Genuine Predator Striker….

     

     

    Afore The Window Closes…..

     

     

    As My Dear Friend,The Buttered Bouffant Is Inclined To Say…

     

     

    “We Must Speculate To Accumulate…

     

     

    It’s The Brother Walfrid Way..! ”

     

     

     

    Yer Pal…..

     

     

    Who Is Seemingly ‘Oot Of The Wull’..

     

     

    And Not Listed In The ‘Green Book’..

     

     

     

    —–

  14. 75 minutes till the Bhoys play their next game.

     

     

    So about 70 minutes till a 52 year old wean dons as much green as he can, including squeezing into a non shrinking tartan based away jersey and shouts non stop supportive comments at his new(ish) Sony TV.

     

     

    What’s all the moanin’ about – we can return to that (if we must) in 3 hours time…

  15. Ronny, wull Dae awright..

     

     

    He is A Newbie

     

     

    He is Still Finding his Feet..

     

     

    Ah am confident that He Wull Be the Wan.

     

     

    Kojo

     

    Still,Laughin

  16. With Maribor still on our minds and the PL interview the transfer window fall out, all in the background, today’s game takes on a huge significance. The Celtic Rollercoaster will be in full flight today, welcome aboard.

  17. Based on peternomics we could

     

    A) go bust without Rangers

     

    B) buy them and fund them and be. (£20m – cost of running them) better off?

  18. Martin O’neil’s team that lost to Basle had 3 £6m pound players (in 2002) plus Larsson.

     

    Don’t remember the the same intolerance that RD is receiving,

     

    NL’s team lost at home in the cup to Morton last season.

  19. Just read Peter Lawwell’s words re Rangers. Nowhere does he say he wants them back. All he has done is explain how much their absence has affected Celtic’s turnover.

     

     

    In fact the only point he got wrong was when he said Hearts went bust.

  20. South Of Tunis

     

     

    10:40 on 31 August, 2014

     

     

     

     

    Option 2 ————the euro .——–join the club -play by the rules -do what your told -or else . A very dependent form of Independence .

     

     

     

    ###

     

     

     

    I think Prof David Bell said on the BBC last week that a separate Scotland wouldn’t be able to adopt the euro straight away. It would have to have its own currency first.

     

     

    I hadn’t been aware of that.

     

     

    Anyway it’s not raining here. And that makes me proud. I’m really, really proud it’s not raining.

  21. The Honest Mistake loves being first on

    TBB.

     

    I don’t think your maths adds up.

     

    You are trying to use an average calculated over a season to calculate impact against a select number of matches. If you use the average in the calculation you need to use the shortfall over the whole season.

     

    More accurate would be to use the attendance of the games against the team that replaced rangers. That will probably take you closer to the 3 million. Hail hail

  22. My Dear,dear,dear,friend.. Th Singin Detective..

     

     

    Hiya.Palomine..

     

     

    Na.. You’re Still In the Will..

     

     

    Tak that Tongue oota yer Cheek,pal…

     

     

    Ye dinna Fool Me,,fur a Second..

     

     

    Ronny, is the Man…

     

     

    We wull soon see..

     

     

    How well HIs Picks woik oot..

     

     

    So far.. Berget.. Is Lookin..well.. quite Good..

     

     

    He is Improvin.. n.. that Is a Big Plus.. by Ma Reckonin..

     

     

    Ah luv tae see Improvement in a Player.

     

     

    Ah am Dyin tae see how Wacko Performs..

     

     

    n.. Tonev.. n.. this Serb Fellah..

     

     

    How wel they Perform, wull gie us an Idea of How Well.. Ronny , kin Pick ’em

     

     

    Gie the Guy , some time.. Ah tellya.

     

     

    Nice Chattin Pal..’

     

    as evah

     

     

    Kojo

     

    Still, Laughin

  23. • corkcelt

     

    11:05 on31 August, 2014

     

    BrayStreet, I don’t object to the Orange Tradition, I strongly objected when for decades they tried to trample my traditions into the ground. When Catholics were denied a vote, when constituency’s were gerrymandered, when the Irish Flag was banned, when the Police Force in part of my Country actively supported Orange rioters to burn Catholics out of their homes. Those days are over now Thank God, hopefully never to return, I am happy to let the Orangemen have their traditions as long as they don’t trample on mine. They will not be marching down The Garvaghy Road anytime soon. ipeople

     

    ==============================

     

    Trampling on Catholic rights is the Orange tradition. That and trampling on Protestants and anyone else who doesn’t agree with it.

     

     

    Those days aren’t over unfortunately.

  24. Are we, the Celtic support, being softened up for a radical overhaul of the beautiful game? On the back of an obvious No vote in the Referendum, FIFA will insist on a GB team instead of individual home nations which in turn will lead to a restructuring of the football leagues within GB. Is this prospect what PL and his disciples keep hinting at where not only Celtic but other Scottish clubs will be participating in GB leagues with access to TV revenues being one of the carrots for accepting it.

     

     

    Following on from PL’S recent utterings I detect once more a groundswell in the SMSM for the New Rangers to be elevated to the Top League, as given their dire financial position and the fact that there is genuine competition in their minor league, there is every chance the won’t even make the playoffs.

     

     

    A GB league set up would see the TV companies insist that the New Rangers should be alongside us in the top league thus keeping our CEO and some posters happy.

     

     

    Good luck today Celts, 0-3 for us

     

     

    HH

  25. Jobo Baldie

     

    11:15 on

     

    31 August, 2014

     

     

    Good Mhan

     

    C’mon the Hoooooooooooooooooops

  26. Joe Filippis Haircut on

    Well I think the Celtic strategy is clearer this morning as many have said we are waiting for the return of the Rangers ( cant be the return they have never been in the SPL ).However,the strategy is Celtic believe they need the deid team now I have said before I couldnt run an operation like Celtic so I have to support and trust the board and I still think big Peter is doing a good job.I also believe because of the silly money in the EPL it is making our job much harder to sign players of the standard we would like.H.H.