Glittering Prizes

Glittering Prizes

Watching Celtic tumble out of the European Champions League to Ferencvaros was a painful experience and alas in recent years a familiar story. We dominate a game possession wise, create chances and then like a careless boxer are caught with a sucker punch we all feared was coming. Respect to Ferencvaros for hanging in there when Celtic were on top but despite their manager talking up his tactical genius that match was lost by Celtic’s ineptitude in defence and failure to take their chances. I was talking with a work mate in the aftermath of the game and he longed for the days when Martin O’Neill’s Celtic was a team to be feared in Europe.

It’s worth considering O’Neill’s impact at Celtic in terms of European football. His arrival in June 2000 came in the wake of the hugely disappointing John Barnes era. There were good players at Celtic like Larsson, Lambert, Moravcik, Boyd, Petrov and McNamara but the overall quality was still behind a Rangers side which we discovered in time was acquiring players with dubious financial inducements as well as racking up huge debt. O’Neill strengthened the core of that Celtic side in 2000-01 season by bringing in Lennon, Sutton, Valgaeren, Thompson, Agathe, Vega (loan) and Douglas. Around £20m was spent on those players and all of them were involved in the first team almost immediately. There were no ‘projects; among that group, they were all seasoned pros with experience, skill and physicality. Rangers would have a fight on their hands from the off and by August 2000 had been thrashed 6-2 by O’Neill’s side.

O’Neill’s first season saw Celtic win a domestic treble for the first time since 1969. In Europe they played in the UEFA cup and defeated Juenesse Esch and HJK Helsinki before losing 2-1 at home to Bordeaux after a creditable 1-1 draw in France. The team performed well in both games and in truth the fans were more concerned with dethroning Rangers than Europe that year. Winning the title in 2001 saw Celtic have a second crack at the Champions League. The hoops had never played in the group stages and their only attempt to reach them in 1998-99 season had ended in Zagreb when an insipid performance saw them lose 3-0 to a team containing Mark Viduka and the hugely talented Robert Prosinecki. The draw could not have been tougher as Celtic headed to Amsterdam to play Ajax. It was to be one of Celtic’s best away performances in Europe for many years as they swept the home side away with a 3-1 win. A nervous 90 minutes in Glasgow were negotiated and Celtic was in the group stages for the first time.

That First Champions’ League group for Celtic saw them face Juventus, Porto and Rosenborg. They won all 3 home games and lost all 3 away games. Admittedly, they were unfortunate in Turin where a disgraceful last minute penalty decision cost them a point but it was worrying that their sparkling home form wasn’t being replicated away from home. Some suggested the fervour of the Parkhead crowd drove the team on and that the team missed this in away ties but it was more than that. Few teams fancied coming to Celtic Park in those days but mostly because Celtic was a very dangerous side then.

The following season Celtic fans looked forward to another crack at the Champions League but after a 3-1 win over Basel at home in the qualifying round lost 2-0 away to go out on away goals. The huge disappointment of that result began to fade as Celtic cut through the opposition in the UEFA cup to reach their first European final in 33 years. Suduva, Blackburn Rovers, Stuttgart, Celta Vigo, Liverpool and Boavista were all vanquished as Celtic’s European reputation grew. The final in Seville was a bitter sweet affair with the supporters being magnificent while the team fell at the last hurdle against a decent but cynical Porto side. That match still leaves a bitter taste in the mouth as the time wasting and play acting of FC Porto diminished their victory which was in truth deserved. They would go on to win the Champions League the following season and it is a measure of how far Celtic had come under O’Neill that they matched that side for most of the final.

The following season Celtic disposed of Kaunas and MTK Budapest in the prelims before finding themselves drawn in a tough group with Bayern Munich, Anderlecht and Lyon. It was as tough as it gets in Europe but Celtic did well in the home times beating Anderlecht and a fine Lyon side before drawing 0-0 with Bayern. Away from home they really should have done better. A 2-1 loss in Munich saw poor goalkeeping undo much good work. A 1-0 defeat in Brussels against a team reduced to ten men for most of the game was a wasted opportunity and Bobo Balde’s late handball in Lyon gave the home side a penalty which snatched qualification out of Celtic’s hands. It was a good overall performance in the group but individual error undid the good work of the team and they tumbled into the UEFA cup where they reached the quarter finals.

O’Neill’s last crack at the Champions League in 2004-05 season saw Celtic paired with AC Milan, Shakthar Donetsk and Barcelona.  It was a big ask to get out of that group but again Celtic fought valiantly at home losing only to Henrik Larsson’s Barcelona after a titanic struggle. Shakthar were beaten and Milan lucky to escape with a 0-0 draw. The away ties saw Celtic gain a creditable 1-1 draw in the Camp Nou, lose 3-1 to Milan after pressing for a winner at 1-1 and crashing to a deserved 3-0 defeat in Ukraine to Shakthar after another flat away performance.  O’Neill’s side though kept up a high standard in Europe while also battling for supremacy in Scotland against a strong Rangers side.

The higher the demands of the domestic games the higher the standard seems to be in Europe. Celtic need pushed, stretched and challenged domestically as it drives up standards. Celtic’s best days in Europe have come when the domestic game was competitive. It is no accident that Dundee United and Aberdeen reached European finals when the league was very competitive. O’Neill had some fine players at his disposal, possibly the best group since Jock Stein’s time in charge. His record in Champions’ League Group stage games is as follows: Pld 18 W6 D3 L9. Those bald statistics disguise a few truths though; all of those victories were at Celtic Park and only Barcelona won there in the UCL group stages during O’Neill’s time. His side’s heroics in the UEFA cup in 2003 and 2004 cannot be ignored nor can the qualification victory against Ajax or the titanic struggle with an excellent Valencia side.

Celtic was a club transformed under O’Neill and became a side which few teams relished facing. The fans had their confidence and pride back and helped make Celtic Park a real fortress in those years. They had a team of solid, seasoned professionals, proven goal scorers and a decent defence. The difference though between being a good European team and a team pushing on to the later stages in the UCL was to be found in Celtic’s away form. They played well in some of those away matches but just fell short on occasion. Indeed some European commentators thought Celtic’s home crowd was the main reason they did so well against some of the best opposition around. As Jock Stein said many years ago though, ‘I never saw a fan score a goal.’ It’s the players who make the difference but perhaps the belief the crowd gives them at home is increased enough to help them succeed. The margins are fine in European football and any factor that works in your favour helps.

O’Neill’s overall win ratio during his five seasons at Celtic was 75.5% and even Jock Stein couldn’t match that. Many Celtic supporters would argue with some justification that his side was the best since the Stein era. Some might suggest Rodgers’ ‘Invincibles’ or the centenary year side of Billy McNeil could match them but neither of these teams made an impact in Europe. Indeed Rodgers stubborn determination to keep playing his passing game against superior sides like PSG and Barcelona lead to some heavy defeats.

To compare Martin O’Neill’s side with the current Celtic team is a little unfair. I doubt many would argue the current side is better as it doesn’t contain the sort of quality O’Neill had all over the pitch in his team. Players like Larsson, Sutton, Petrov, Thompson or Moravcik would cost huge sums of money today. O’Neill got the best out of them and was tactically astute enough to play to their strengths. His team had pace, power, skill and character in abundance and were well lead and motivated by one of Celtic’s greatest managers. They tangled with some of the best sides in Europe in their time and made sure every one of them knew they were in a game.

O’Neill restored Celtic to where we all hope and believe they should be; successful at home and decent in Europe. In some ways the current side is still a work in progress and there will be more comings and goings before the transfer window closes. They need to start fulfilling their potential in Europe and stop losing to ordinary teams they really should roll over. Martin O’Neill once said, ‘You can’t afford to rely on history-you have to make it.’ His words echo Jock Stein who said in 1967…

‘It’s up to us, everyone at Celtic Park to build up our own legends. We don’t want to live with history, to be compared with legends of the past. We must make new legends.’

The current Celtic side may not yet be good enough to create any European history, but they are within reach of an iconic piece of domestic history. I for one hope they do reach out and grasp the glittering prize before them. They have a chance to be mentioned in Celtic’s history as the team who won the Ten.

The opportunity will not come again so make sure you take it.