In just 12 weeks time, Celtic will be going through their final preparations for the second qualifying round of the 2021/22 Champions League.
Having missed out on the Scottish Premiership for the first time in a decade, the Bhoys go into what is dubbed the ‘League Path’ by UEFA.
It’s a much harder gauntlet than the ‘Champions Path’ we’ve become accustomed to.
Designed to whittle down the ‘best of the rest’ from UEFA nations outside of the top four leagues, it will result in just two teams going through to the money-spinning group stages.
From the off, it’ll be a challenge. Celtic will go into the 16th June draw with the second-placed sides from Eredivisie, Turkish Super Lig, Austrian Bundesliga, Danish Superliga and the Czech First League.
Thankfully, we will be seeded, so will only be up against the bottom three-ranked sides by co-efficient. However, it could still see us go up against teams with the calibre of Sparta Prague, for example. We know how that finished for us this season.
Is it already too late for Celtic Champions League challenge?
The Bhoys would be up against it even in a normal year, but this is no normal year. It’s also no Lincoln Red Imps situation. Our incoming manager is going to have an absolute humdinger of a tie to kick-off his competitive career at Celtic.
Celtic have back themselves into a corner here. Three months is no time at all in football. When you consider the scale of the task at Celtic, it’s an even smaller window within which to work.
Not only is a new CEO transitioning to his role, but we’ll also likely have a new Director of Football instigating root and branch change at Lennoxtown, with a new manager doing the same to the first-team squad.
Our captain will be in Aberdeen, our star striker and defender will have one foot out the door and a number of loan signings will be back at their parent clubs. That situation is by default before you consider any complex tactical or personnel changes in the starting line-up.
Every day that this manager search goes on, and it’s been months now, Celtic draw closer to writing off Champions League football for the season.
In fact, qualifying for the Europa League may be hard enough.
That’s especially troublesome at a time when rivals Rangers have a decent chance of making the group stages of the big competition themselves, going through the easier route.
It’s another damning indictment of the failure in putting together future planning by this Celtic board.
Fans will have to acknowledge this situation and remain patient when judging any new manager. Whoever arrives in the dugout will have a matter of weeks to prepare for some of our hardest games of the entire season.
It all complicates what is already a pressure situation.
Elsewhere on 67 Hail Hail, Manny Perez has left Celtic.
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