Watching Celtic play in the Champions League over the past decade or so has been akin to watching someone make the same mistake over and over again. Sloppy goals conceded, the more street wise teams we have played mugging us and those with more ability praising us for the atmosphere at Celtic Park before waltzing off with three points in the bag. There were hard luck stories along the way but in truth 3 wins in 32 Champions league matches before Wednesday night tells us all we need to know. Celtic has for too long been failing in Europe’s top club competition and seriously underperforming when compared to some clubs with less resources than us. Celtic have slipped to 66th place in UEFA’s co-efficient rankings, below clubs such as Bodo Glimpt. Molde, Tel Aviv and Dynamo Zagreb. All of those clubs, struggle to get 10,000 fans at their league matches. Something was different on Wednesday night though. I fully accept that the relatively inexperienced Slovan Bratislava side was the perfect opponent for us on match day one, but Celtic was in the mood from the kick off and so too were the fans. The team has been playing well and continued in that vein against the Slovaks. Part of the problem Celtic have endured in the Champions League in recent years has been squandering most of the chances they create. That clinical edge we see from the best sides was often lacking. This week, the team scored 5 goals and could have had a few more. They have an attack with real pace and competition in key areas of the side. The manager is being backed in the transfer market and has added some quality to the squad. On top of this he seems to be improving individual players as well as impressing on the side the attitude they need to adopt to be successful. The club’s model of developing young talent and selling them on to the richer leagues has been very successful financially and Matt O’Riley’s transfer fee covered most of this season’s purchases. In Arne Engels they look to have secured a young talent who will adequately replace Matt and who also has boundless potential. In the past we haven’t always replaced quality with quality like this and the depth of talent and experience in the squad clearly wasn’t adequate for the challenges of Europe. This season, the club seems to have got it right. The bench against Slovan Bratislava had men like Idah, Forrest, Bernardo, Trusty, McCowan, Palma, Ralston and Valle waiting to come on. That strength in depth will be needed in the depths of winter when the fixtures come thick and fast. It was telling that Brendan Rodgers said, ‘this feels like the most-ready I’ve been as a manager. (for the Champions league) He clearly feels the squad is evolving in the correct manner. As an elite manager, he has demonstrated again that given the right backing, he can improve the Celtic team. The players are clearly responding to him and confidence is high. He handles the media well and knows that the Celtic support is hungry to make an impression on the park in Europe. It’s no longer enough for us to hear foreign players to say, ‘what an atmosphere,’ we want them to be speaking about the Celtic team too. The fans are no longer content with staying ahead of Rangers domestically, they want to halt the slide of our European reputation and have a team to be proud of. We all recognise that the big leagues with their huge resources will always hoover up the top talent and our upcoming fixtures in the Champions league will be hugely challenging. No one expects us to go to Italy or Germany and cuff their multi-talented sides. We do however expect Celtic to go there and compete. We want their fans talking about our players and not just our terrific fans. In 2004-05 season, Celtic was ranked 22nd in UEFA’s co-efficient. Twenty years on we have dropped 44 places to 66. The football world has moved on greatly in those twenty years and we recognise that Martin O’Neill had built a very good side back then. However, O’Neill was backed with relatively big money to bring in the likes of Hartson, Sutton and Lennon. He was also a good judge of a player who wouldn’t be fobbed off with inexpensive ‘projects.’ He knew the side needed quality, experienced professionals and when he got them, Celtic’s fortunes improved greatly. Celtic are now in a position of financial strength to back Brendan Roders in a similar way and get Celtic at least competing again with the big boys in Europe. We have the stadium, the fan base and the financial muscle to develop further. The banner in section 111 at Wednesday’s game with Slovan Bratislava contained the words ‘last night as I lay dreaming ’ alongside an image of John Clarke and Billy McNeill with the European cup. We all know that it is now a dream that a club from a country the size of Scotland could win the Champions league, but we do dream of building a side that is respected in Europe again and makes visiting Celtic Park a daunting prospect for any side. Brendan Rodgers said to his young side that they must make Celtic Park, ‘Paradise for us but hell for the opposition.’ Celtic now have all the pieces in place to make that come true again. The first tentative step in the restoration of our European reputation came in that 5-1 victory over Slovan. It was the first chink of light after a long dark period in the Champions league for Celtic. I hope and pray that it isn’t another false dawn. There will be tough moments ahead but we face the future again with hope in our hearts.
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