Celtic count the cost of latest Champions League flop
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.”
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.
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.
A lack of competition in Scotland has allowed the Hoops to dominate for nearly a decade. This season they are aiming to match the Scottish record of nine titles in a row and have won three domestic trebles in a row.