Scottish Champs Celtic Counting Losses After Latest Champions League Misfire
14th August 2019
The Scottish champions exited the third qualifying round 5-4 on aggregate having thrown away a promising position not just after a 1-1 draw in Transylvania last week
- Celtic were left counting the cost on and off the field after exiting the Champions League in mid-August after a thrilling but agonising 4-3 home defeat to Romanian champions CFR Cluj
- Instead, they must now win a playoff just to reach the Europa League group stages for the consolation prize of less than a third of that bounty
- However, it is the continuing blow to Celtic's prestige rather than the balance sheet that is of more concern to fans, who have grown frustrated at diminishing performances in Europe as the club has piled up cash reserves
LONDON, United Kingdom- Celtic were left counting the cost on and off the field after exiting
the Champions League in mid-August after a thrilling but agonising 4-3 home
defeat to Romanian champions CFR Cluj.
The Scottish
champions exited the third qualifying round 5-4 on aggregate having thrown away
a promising position not just after a 1-1 draw in Transylvania last week, but
having led twice on the night at Celtic Park on Wednesday.
"We had the
lead and we've let it slip through our own decision making," bemoaned
Celtic manager Neil Lennon.
"We've only
ourselves to blame. If you don't do the basics defensively well enough then at
this level you get punished. We've let it go."
DO
NOT MISS: FKF Appoint Kimanzi As Harambee Stars Coach, Zico Named His Assistant
Celtic could have
looked forward to a financial boost of around £30 million ($36 million) just
for qualifying for the Champions League group stages had they clung on to the
lead they held 10 minutes from time against Cluj and beaten Slavia Prague in
the final qualifying round.
Instead, they must
now win a playoff just to reach the Europa League group stages for the consolation
prize of less than a third of that bounty.
However, it is the
continuing blow to Celtic's prestige rather than the balance sheet that is of
more concern to fans, who have grown frustrated at diminishing performances in
Europe as the club has piled up cash reserves.
Celtic's most recent
accounts showed £38.6 million in the bank even before receiving compensation
paid from Leicester for manager Brendan Rodgers in February and the sale of
Kieran Tierney to Arsenal for a Scottish record £25 million.
MUST
READ: Matthaeus: Niko Kovac Can Build Undisputed Era At Bayern Munich
Those reserves have
been accumulated on Rodgers' reaching the riches of the Champions League group
stage in his first two of his three seasons in charge and the consistent sale
of Celtic's best players.
Tierney followed the
path forged by Victor Wanyama, Virgil van Dijk and Moussa Dembele in making his
name in Glasgow before club record fees were secured in their departures.
Yet Celtic are now
in a downward spiral. By not replacing that departed star quality adequately,
they have missed out on Champions League cash for two successive seasons and
will find it even more difficult to return to that promised land in the coming
years unless more money is reinvested in the squad wisely.