The Europa League

Yeh that was part of my point. Read the post I was replying to.

 

Im guessing the better we do in this then we would maybe improve our ranking in europe?and maybe help us seeding wise in future competitions.

If thats the case then that alone should be a good enough reason for fans to want us to do well in it regardless of whats gone on in the CL.

 

Ticket prices have not been confirmed yet. Do not post crappy rumours or fake twitter images. All it does is cause hassle.

 

Whats the fekkin chances we get through ….. an get grouped wi arsenal

 

Cheers , Heard a lot of noise regarding the price but as o yet I’ve not had an Email. Cheers for putting my mind at ease

 

Celtic could face a Europa League decider in front of a closed home stand against AIK Stockholm.




Neil Lennon ’s team will discover their opponents in Europe’s second-tier competition Play-Off tonight when the Swedes face Moldovans Sheriff Tiraspol.


AIK are strong favourites to qualify having won the first leg 2-1 away from home seven days ago, but will not have the backing of their faithful from a usual area.

The Northern Stand is being closed to their fans after a dispute with police chiefs resulted in the club advising their punters to buy briefs for other sections of their 50,000-capacity Friends Arena.


However, AIK are also under investigation by UEFA for a separate situation after serious trouble marred their Champions League qualifier against Maribor last month.

Angry Stockholm supporters caused bother after the goal which put them out of the competition when visiting fans grabbed an AIK flag and crushed it sparking an attempt by home fans to get into the visiting section to confront them.

Coach Rikard Norling and team captain Henok Goitom had to plead for calm amongst the fans, but the matter was included in the UEFA Delegate’s Report and the Swedes are expecting punishment of some sort.


AIK chiefs launched a full investigation with marketing manager Fredrik Soderberg stating: “We go through all our internal security work to see where and how our match arrangement was broken.”



But UEFA are scheduled to make their judgements and deal with the matter at a Disciplinary Committee meeting a week today, Thursday, August 22, one week before the home leg of their Play-Off tie.

Sanctions are likely to include a hefty fine, but some form of stadium closure is possible in extreme circumstances.

In the event of such actions, Record Sport understands any closures would only affect the home area where the problems arose in the Maribor incident and NOT areas which would house travelling Celtic fans if the Swedes get through and the game takes place.

Tonight’s scenario is not connected to the UEFA investigation, but instead AIK are taking matters into their own hands.

Issues between police and supporters have caused problems for the club and they have acted by closing down the Northern Stand


Club Director Jens T Andersson explained: “Above all, it is a decision we have made against the police permit unit and their application of the conditional staircase, which we think is inconsistent.

“This is a reduction we have not seen before. In the past, there have been 500 people down or up. Now we went on 1250 people straight off. When we asked for a justification, we have got extremely weak writings back.

“Their reason is that pyrotechnics have burned in our stands.”

Asked if the police decision was connected to events at the Maribor game, he added: “It surely is. But there are new conditions for each match.

“I don’t know how they reason. It has gone from almost no reduction to the most powerful reduction in AIK’s history without any major motivation. We strongly oppose this.


“I hope and believe that all AIKs will show an understanding that we as a club must react.

“We believe that the inconsistent application of the conditional staircase is counterproductive in our security work. It presents us with enormous challenges in our events.”


Manager Norling is taking nothing for granted ahead of the tie against the Moldovans, however, and says it’s no formality that Lennon’s team will be going to Scandinavia with work still to be done by the hosts.

Norling said: “You want to think about it [Celtic], but we have a match that we must focus on. We take one thing at a time and try to do our job. It will be a tough match even though we have a good result behind us.”

 

Here's hoping they have no fans. We need as much help as he can get and lawells already used all his "ineligible player" cards a while back. Personally they should just be booted out the competition for being right * and let us in, then geez an easy as * group, an easy as * last 16, 8, 4 and a team completely devastated by injuries for the final. Dont think that's much to ask tbh. Call it payback for champions having to play 8 games to get into the groups.

 

Europe should always be Celtic’s bar, but this is a game I would rather lose. The league is far, far too important this season and our squad has proven itself to be nowhere near strong enough for both.

In an interesting twist, I hope they qualify! Leave their squad deal with both!

 

And you think our squad will keep together if we fail to reach the Europa? It struggles to stay together if we make the CL

 

I can honestly see us having no European football this season then major cost cutting swinging into operation .What a * state to get in The league is over according to every hun I work beside drpressing doesnt even begin to cover it

 

We must,MUST get in the Europa League Group Stages,must.
In any sport worth its salt you do the best you can and try and improve and keep on trying to improve.
Our players will all be desperate to have a good run in Europe so hopefully we will take out our current frustrations on this overrated mob a week tonight.

 

Cheers, checked an still nothing on the website the club dont overpriced it , so we get a decent crowd , think a good few will talk with their feet for this , the team still need us as weve got to get past AIK imo to get our momentum back up

 

How can the league be over after 2 games ????

 

Sad * days when I'd rather be knocked out next week so we can concentrate on beating a mediocre team in our league to finish first.

How high we have fallen to the others levels now...Thats what annoy's me the most that this is all our own downfall...other teams have been utter gash and only slightly got better but our downsizing and lack of board spirit has made it look even closer than it should be.

It's not only the orcs that taste blood but the others....so * playing teams like AEK on a Thurs night to then a Sunday to be either popped out in the group stage or the first game after Xmas.

 

Think they mean because we are so bad its theirs for the taking

 

Feeling pessimistic about our chances in this one.

 

After 1 * up ?

 

Surely a chance for Lennon and team to redeem themselves ???

 

Would those who were around at the time swap the Seville run and all those amazing nights in 2003 for no Europe that year if it meant winning the title? I wouldn't.

The obsession with 10 in a row is making us look at things in a peculiar way, myself included before anyone starts.

Such a weird one. Personally I'm choking to get to the EL groups. Not that it has to be one or the other, but not winning the league is not worth thinking about.

 

Need to go as far as we can in european football every season .