CELTIC BOARD MUST CARRY THE BLAME FOR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE EXIT
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- Aug 27
- 3 min read
Well, it’s almost 12 hours since I watched what was, undoubtedly one of the worst games of football I’ve ever seen, and almost certainly the worst game involving Celtic I’ve seen in a very long time.
The most frustrating thing about our elimination from the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Kairat Almaty on penalty kicks is that, ultimately, it was all entirely preventable.
Celtic Board Intransigence Isn’t Just Bad for the Team, it’s Bad for Business
Celtic lose matches, it happens. Even the best teams, with vastly superior resources and, on the face of it, better players in their squad, can lose a game here and there. This certainly isn’t the first time that we’ve been shocked by a team that, on paper, we should have beaten fairly routinely, especially in Europe.
Yet, like watching a slow-moving car crash from a mile away, we could all see this coming. We all knew it was a distinct possibility. All except, it seems, the current occupants of the Celtic Board room.
And what makes it even more frustrating is, they’ll get away with it. Like a petulant child who isn’t taught right from wrong, the toxic relationship between the Celtic board and the Celtic support will only get worse.
Because, much like the Celtic Board themselves, there remains a significant number amongst our own support who are happy just to finish above Rangers every year.
Domination of Scottish football ceased to be the metric by which Celtic should measure themselves in 2012. That was the last time a team with anything like our financial, infrastructural or on the park firepower challenged us in Scotland.
And even then, we all know it was never a genuine challenge, because Rangers (Requiescat in Pace) used money that wasn’t theirs to buy players they couldn’t afford.
And here’s the thing, as angry as I am right now, and perhaps you are too, for a lot of Celtic fans, a good win at Ibrox on Sunday will see most of this brushed aside. We’ll have the bragging rights back.
To some, though not me, that’s all that matters. Being atop the extremely self-limiting food chain that is Scottish Football.
But even for those who aren’t that bothered about European failure, this can’t continue indefinitely. Scottish football is stale. The product is tired, teams play each other too often, and we are paid a pittance no matter how many titles we win. Those returns will only continue to diminish further over time.
We’ve seen the very worst elements of late-stage capitalism on show at Celtic in the last few months. From the incessant pushing of merchandise, to the diminishing quality of the in-stadium matchday experience.
From the utterly amateurish approach of Celtic TV, to the complete and total lack of communication from the club on anything other than merchandize and marketing. And then there's the complete failure to get the players signed that the manager wants.
But even for a capitalist, The Celtic Board’s current modus operandi does not make sense when you stop to think about it.
For the sake of 2 or 3 signings, probably for a combined total of around 15 million pounds (and I’ll remind you the club has already banked more than that in player sales this summer) we could have got the quality we needed to more or less guarantee Champions League football, and the 40 million pounds that comes with it.
That’s bad business.
We’ll probably end up spending more than that now, for a similar or perhaps inferior quality of player. The lack of Champions League football means we are a much less attractive option to potential players. It could also mean we struggle to keep some of our current players.
But on the other hand, the inevitable fan backlash, which has already started will probably push the board into making a few panic buys: players that, much like Arne Engels and Adam Idah last season, we will end up massively overpaying for, because we left it too late.
Again, that’s bad business. Some would go so far as to call it corporate negligence.
The Celtic Board like to think they are a group of corporate high-flyers. Geniuses. It’s just too bad that us mere mortals in the Celtic support can’t understand or appreciate their obvious, unquestioned brilliance.
Well, unfortunately, after last night’s debacle, a direct result of their own incompetence, they look less like Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko, and more like Phoenix Nights’ Sammy Snake.
Ultimately though, nothing will change, because, as it stands, there is no incentive for them to do so. Change will need to be forced upon them. I only hope there are people out there with the money, the resources, and the willpower to do so.
