Time running out in Europe?

The deterioration of the SPL and the lack of money could now see just one of the old firm in the Champions league and even that might not be the case as they would have to go through the qualifying route to even be in with a sniff of top European football.
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Apparently the top 15 countries are given two places and Scotland has dropped to 15<SUP>th</SUP> spot having started in 12<SUP>th</SUP> this season. The most shocking figure of all is that of 34 games played in Europe by Scottish clubs they have only won 6.
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To drag our arses off the bottom of the European floor both clubs need a massive turnaround in form to ensure that we keep up appearances in Europe.

Only a few seasons ago both sides of Glasgow were enjoying success in Europe with Celtic reaching the last 16 in consecutive seasons and Rangers fluking it all the way to the Uefa cup Final.
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Now it’s a different story altogether with Celtic struggling against mediocre sides like Tel Aviv and struggling at Home to Rapid Vienna. While much too all our amusement Rangers were torn apart by a silky Seville side.
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In reality where does this leave Scottish football and in my view this just supports the growing calls for the old firm to get out of Scottish football before it’s too late. <o></o>

 

I think it is already too late :bbpd:
We had to get out of the SPL backwater about five years ago in my opinion. The game is dead on its feet here, and with dwindling attendances, high unemployment and the recesssion, I think our goose is well and truly cooked.

Even if we get into the English Championship it would be a big struggle, and we might not see European football again for eons and eons.

The only hope is too get a billionaire backer who is willing to invest
millions of his loot in the team and facilities.

Dermot Desmond and Co have not done that, rather they have speculated on our unerring loyalty, and got richer in the process.

The future is not looking bright, unless we get a miracle soon and
a Sugar Daddy to bail us out of our woes.

 

myself and my brother were just talkin bout that this mornin and came up with the same conclusion.if we go that lowdown the peckin order and if we think that its hard to entice any kind of decent player to parkhead at the moment even with the chance off champions league,wat chance if we hav to go through the qualifying stages..zero i think.on the other hand if we do get into the EPL that would mean no champions league for a few years as they will most probably put us in div 2 an we would hav to work our way up from there..
So im still up in the air as whats the best route even though the EPL looks the best in the long run

 

Be as well putting in the article from the paper today in full, as opposed to just taking little snippets out:


THE SPL are in danger of having just one representative fighting for the right to play in the Champions League.
Scotland's co-efficient has plummeted in the past couple of seasons.
If the slide is not reversed, there is a serious threat to the Champions League place awarded to the SPL runners-up.
Only the top 15 countries in the rankings have two places. Below that, one place is available.
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With a poor co-efficient points tally last season and our clubs struggling to get valuable wins this time around, Scotland have dropped two places and are currently in 15th spot.
If they fall below this position, only the champions will have a chance of playing in the Champions League - and even then they will have to negotiate the very tough qualifying route. The second-placed side in the SPL would head straight to the Europa Cup.
Scotland were in 12th spot when this season kicked off in the rankings, which are based on the previous five years' results.
For the next few years, the Scottish co-efficient will be boosted by the points accrued by Rangers when they reached the Uefa Cup Final in 2008, and by Celtic when they made the last 16 of the Champions League for two consecutive seasons.
But Rangers and Celtic have had poor runs in Europe in recent times.
The other Scottish entrants in the European competitions have also contributed little.
With the co-efficient divided by the number of clubs representing a country - this season six SPL clubs took part - it would require a massive upturn in the fortunes of the Old Firm in their remaining games if this is not to be another damaging season.
Of the last 34 ties played by Scottish clubs in Europe, they have won only six and at the moment, Scotland lie in 30th position in this season's points ranking.
Added to last year's 29th-place finish, it is a damaging trend which has set alarm bells ringing - especially within Ibrox and Celtic Park.
They face another big week in Europe, Unirea Urziceni playing Rangers on Tuesday, while Hamburg come to Parkhead two days later.

 

We've been punching above our weight in Europe for a few seasons now, this season the reality has hit home that we aren't that good on a European level.

A rich sugar daddy is not the way to go as that would only be a temporary solution to a long term problem.

The standard at the club has to be improved from the bottom up, it's a slow process but the only one that is likely to be viable in the long term.

We have to invest a bit at a time to gradually re-build the squad, the problems of lack of finance in Scottish football and lack of attraction of the SPL in general will just make this all the more difficult however, having DD or any other sugar daddy investor finance this investment personally will just make the club instable in the long run - we have to take a long term approach and unfortunately this means not being with the big boys in Europe at this time.

 

We need Celtic to get to the latter stages of the Europa League (quarters minimum) and Rangers to get to the CL last 16 or drop into the Europa League and get to the quarters at least as well.

Quite frankly, the EMBARRASSING performances of other Scottish clubs in Europe this season and over the course of the last few season has been the big reason our league has fallen down the rankings. In fact, if it hadn't been for Rangers trip to the UEFA Cup Final, we would be in a much worse position.

Of course, most fans would rather see Rangers lose every game in the CL and fail miserably.

And indeed those fans are the ones to come on message boards and complain about the state of the SPL and how our league won't be getting much CL spots.

Personally, I do HOPE Celtic and Rangers get good runs in Europe, for the sake of Scottish football. We need it right now.

 

The point is we are trying to reshape the club (and have been for a few years) because of the reality that we dont have the funds to keep up with the other European sides.

That is why we have worked on investing in the facilities, looking at new ways of coaching and trying to bring in young talent.

Don't expect to see a quick turnaround, but things are being done. The solution isnt always a big money signing, although it would be nice :icon_mrgreen:

 

This is why we need to get out of the SPL now and into the EPL or some sort of european league. If we miss out on the Champions League for the next 10 years we will be struggling big time. No money means no good players which means * team.

 

Dermot Desmond has invested millions.

Can you show us how he has become "richer" as a result of investing in Celtic?

Dermot Desmond has invested millions.

Can you show us how he has become "richer" as a result of investing in Celtic?

 

this season has been so bad, even by scottish standards.

Aberdeen losing to SK Sigma Olomouc 8-1 on aggregrate, that is just shocking. Czech league football is crap, their teams never do anything in Europe.

i actually think Celtic and Rangers do pretty well in Europe usually, the rest of the SPL are absolutely useless tho - Gretna lost to an Eircomm league team, Killie went out to a team from the Faroe Isles not so long ago... not good.

 

Last year I suggested Celtic should not even bother entering the champions league as we simply had no chance of success. I put forward that entering the UEFA cup was prefferable because at least we had a chance of success. Walter Smith has just commented that Scottish football is dying a slow death as for example we are unable to now compete against with English sides for obvious monetary reasons. Can we now even compete in the new EUROPA league? We need to get out as quick as possible but the 64 dollar question is would anyone have us?
ps For my sins last year I was ridiculed by a short sighted and narrow minded moderator who insulted and banned me for a period then threatened it as permanent if i suppose I annoyed him with views. This is the first time I have been back on the site since then.

Hail Hail

 

DD has invested millions in himself you mean and has used Celtic FC as a vehicle for promoting his own businesses etc, like London Airport and many properties in Barbados.

I see very little of DD's generosity in our squad.

We need someone like John Fisher the Gap Man in San Francisco to take a major shareholding in Celtic PLC and actively invest in new players, the stadium, and using his might to get us nto the EPL.

 

How has being a major shareholder in Celtic helped him promote his other business interests?

DD has invested just shy of £90million since he became involved with the club, an investment that has seriously dwindled in value in recent years.

How is spending millions on the squad going to help us in the long term? Sure we'd have a great squad for a few years but when they start getting on a bit does the cycle have to be repeated again where millions once again has to be spent to keep the level of the squad high?

I'd love to see us spend a few million getting genuine quality into the squad as it's badly needed but having a sugar daddy buy the team for us is not a viable option imo.

With UEFA wanting to limit clubs so they can only spend what they earn self-sustainability is the only long-term solution available, Celtic are one of the few clubs that has that.

 

this is up to all clubs within the spl to get the finger out and sort this problem out along with our national team also! we need our international team to do well also but like the clubs this season! have been * poor rotten.

and one season being like this isnt the end of the world! next year could be better in a turnaround with club and country doing better this time around/

 

There is nothing wrong with self sustainablity, in fact I actively promote that ideal, but if we had a generous Sugar Daddy llke the Gap Man pumping millions into new players for Celtic, the same way that chinky guy is pumping 40M into Birmingham FC for McLeish to buy new players, then we would have the best of both worlds.

We would walk the SPL year in, year out, get into the EPL eventually and become a power in our own right, and make serious inroads into getting to the Last 8 of the CL at least.

 

In an ideal world, but unfortunately the world is hardly ideal.

What would happen when he gets bored of his play thing (as that's all Celtic would be to him) and decides to withdraw his funding, where would that leave the club?

 

Nothing lasts for ever in this world. We will just have to make Davie Hay while the sun shines.