Martin O’Neill has opened up on the financial challenges that Celtic face to compete in the European stage before the Bhoys take on Bologna.
The Celtic manager is preparing his side for a crucial Europa League clash where if the Hoops avoid defeat, the final Celtic Park fixture against Utrecht will give O’Neill a great chance to qualify for the knockout phase.
Celtic need at least nine Europa League points to do that, and while on seven with two games to go, the opportunity to do that could not have presented itself any better.
How many points do you think Celtic need to qualify for the Europa League knockout phase?
There are, of course, some Europa League results that could help Celtic’s cause, but O’Neill must make sure defeat in Bologna is off the cards.
But when asked about Celtic getting back to the top table of Europe and their ability to compete once again, O’Neill disappointingly tempered that talk as he talked about the financial difficulties that pose as a hurdle for the Parkhead club.
Martin O’Neill talks up Celtic’s ‘difficulty’ to compete in Europe
As Celtic prepare to take on Bologna in the Europa League, a journalist asked O’Neill if the Bhoys will ever be able to compete at the top table in Europe again.
O’Neill told the pre-match press conference via Celtic TV, “That’s a very good point. What do you need? Obviously, a very, very strong team and able to compete at the highest level.
“I think that’s the ambition again, obviously. You know, it’s been set aside quite some years ago and because the side had been successful and the British team win the European Cup, I think it set a sort of a standard that that the club has attempted to get to.
“But we find it very, very difficult. Now, obviously, even since my time in 2003, the landscape of football has changed again. It is difficult.
“The big teams spending fortunes, absolute fortunes. The Premier League is awash with money. And then you are talking about, for instance, players being bought for 60 or 70 million pounds who don’t even start in people’s teams.
“A £35m player is just run of the mill. That’s the difficulty. That is a serious difficulty.
“So, and when I came in 2003 we, for a stage, anyway, were able to compete first of all, with Rangers, which is big.
“But secondly, we were able to acquire some really, really good players at the time. Now, what you’re talking about now, as I say, a totally different scenario.
“For instance, you’re talking about the leagues, and it’s. It’s difficult in the SPFL, there’s no money in Scotland.
“And therefore, things will eventually, if that’s the case, then at some stage or another during quite a number of years, then that level will drop.
“But the club itself, I think, hopefully in Scotland and in general, clubs in particular would try and overcome some major obstacles, which there are now at this minute, financial major obstacles to try and compete with that, but that might take some time.”
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This kind of talk really annoys a large section of the Celtic support. And bear in mind, less than 12 months ago, Brendan Rodgers almost knocked Bayern Munich out of the Champions League in Munich.
Celtic fans don’t want the club to buy £20m players to try and win the Champions League, that would be folly and unsustainable.
But what they do want the club to show is some ambition to invest properly in players to give Celtic the best chance to at least compete against teams in Europe’s top competition.
That is not beyond Celtic and the fact O’Neill is spinning a Celtic board line about finances will really disappoint a large section of the Hoops support.
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