Another European calamity for Celtic highlights glaring deficiencies in our squad, and the urgent need for reinforcements…
Eric Knott 
(Photo by BO AMSTRUP/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)
For a while there, Celtic fans were able to, well, enjoy being Celtic fans.
The buzz around the club was good, and there was an all round feel good factor surrounding the return of Martin O’Neill to the club.
Two very good victories, seven goals scored, when prior to that, we couldn’t buy a goal.
Then we had breakthrough of young Callum Osmand to the first team.
It seemed as if Osmand could be Martin O’Neill’s Bobby Petta moment, if we want to get rightly nostalgic about it.
What would it take to get us down off the high we were on?
What would cause the bubble to burst?
Sending us headlong back into the reality that is the shambles our club was up until this brief sojourn from said reality?
Step up a lowly team from Mid-Jutland in Denmark, who have a fraction of the resources our mighty club has.
With a stadium that holds just over a sixth of the capacity Celtic Park can hold.
Yes, FC Midtjylland, who sit proudly atop the Europa League table, gave us a blitzkrieg based footballing lesson last night.
They scored 3 blistering goals in 8 first half minutes.
That’s 4 wins from 4 for the Danish “giants”.
One wonders how these Scandinavian sides can compete so well in European competition operating off a fraction of the resources we do?
Perhaps a question that could be directed at our “world class in everything they do” board at the upcoming Celtic AGM?
A sign of how high on the Martin O’Neill buzz we had gotten over the last ten days or so, was reflected in the reaction to Callum Osmand’s injury late on in last night’s tie.
£77 million sitting in the bank, and we are devastated that a 19 year old who has just broken into the first team and played about an hour of football for us is now injured?
This is the state our football club is in.
Don’t get me wrong, I was fully on the Osmand bandwagon too.
When he came on, it was clear to see he had an immediate impact, causing the Midtjylland defence all sorts of problems.
Then, he won the penalty for us.
But a little bit of perspective is needed here.
There’s no denying that Martin O’Neill immediately got a tune out of both Osmand and Johnny Kenny.
But the reality here is that he had no other choice, simply because he had no other strikers available to him.
Now, O’Neill effectively has to go and do the same again with Shin Yamada.
Because Callum Osmand’s hamstring injury could have him out until the end of the season.
O’Neill is, without doubt, a serious man motivator, he always was.
But he isn’t a miracle worker.
When he’s being reduced to the bare bones of his strike force, there are limits to what he can do.
Celtic is in this position because of the board.
They sold two of our main strikers and did not replace them.
Last night was one of those nights when the chickens came home to roost.
In fact, they’ve been coming home to roost a lot this season.
For shits and giggles, I’ll use another poultry based analogy to describe our striking woes.
Strikers are becoming as rare as hens teeth at Celtic now.
Soon enough, we could have none available.
Which is why we need at least, and I mean at least, two new ones in the January transfer window.
Not projects, not youngsters, but proven strikers, with a proven track record.
Now, that’s one hell of a big ask, but a necessity nonetheless.
Last night showed us the glaring deficiencies in our squad.
Deficiencies even a miracle worker like Martin O’Neill would struggle with.
All the motivation in the world doesn’t count for anything if you’re torn apart in the fashion we were last night.
I can’t really say that we were holding our own up until the first goal was scored because we weren’t.
Midtjylland were running rings around us, and we were struggling with their constant attacks down the flanks.
It was only going to be a matter of time before they got the breakthrough.
You could sense it was coming.
That’s the problem, we also knew that when the first one went in, then the flood gates could open.
And so it transpired.
Just another one of those nights in Europe.
The kind that we’ve become all too accustomed to.
All last night served to do was remind us that we are still in a bad place.
A place that can only be made better by getting our new manager in before the next transfer window.
Followed by bringing the reinforcements in that we need to push on and win the title.
I think after last night, that European progression is beyond us now.
Especially with Roma coming to Celtic Park, they may just be too strong for us.
But if we’re being honest, our issues are closer to home than in Europe, and that’s how most Celtic fans feel at the moment.
I don’t think I’m alone in saying that not too many of us are gutted after last night’s result.
We are obviously more disappointed about the injury to Callum Osmand.
And that’s simply because we felt he could have a big impact on the domestic front.
But his injury has brought into stark contrast the deficiencies in our squad.
And that’s down to the board.
Which is why we need to keep the pressure up to get them out.
Not a penny more…
Key Takeaways
- Celtic fans recently felt optimistic with Martin O’Neill’s return, but a bad defeat against FC Midtjylland exposed underlying issues.
- Despite having £77 million in the bank, Celtic struggles with injuries and a lack of strikers after selling key players without replacements.
- The performance against Midtjylland highlighted serious squad deficiencies that even a motivator like O’Neill cannot fix alone.
- To improve, Celtic needs at least two proven strikers in the January transfer window, not just projects or inexperienced players.
- Overall disappointment stems more from the team’s situation than the Europa League loss, with fans blaming the board for not strengthening the squad.
After 10 minutes last night I put a tweet on X saying that “our defence looked like a bomb scare and that things could get ugly very quickly.” It gave me no joy to be proved correct but as much as Martin’s got us two wins domestically this was always going to happen. Systemic failures from an incompetent board are bearing fruit now and the managed decline is coming back to bite us on the backside. This January transfer window can’t come quick enough as the injuries are starting to pile up as well, my worry is that by the time it comes around we could be too far behind to win this league and if that happens then all hell will break loose. Desmond really needs to sell his shares as he’s done nothing to improve this club in the almost 30 year reign as major shareholder we’ve regressed and are starting to look like the 90’s teams we had and that’s a shocking indictment of the state of the club now and how far we’ve fallen in 8 months. I’m so angry and I’m not the only one the heat has to be put on these shysters in the boardroom as they’ve been too busy patting themselves on the back over the years to see the picture emerging. This has been coming for a while and all of us have seen it we just didn’t think that things would become this bad but it has and there’s no hiding place for any of them now and this AGM on the 21st is going to be electric and it should make these guys squirm. #Sack the board it’s long overdue.#
As much as I enjoyed the 2 victories and the goals scored, I did not at any time think we had solved our problems, or a corner had been turned. Even in these 2 games we lacked a lot, some very poor defending, and disorganisation were evident, and it was superior players who were now ‘trying’ that pulled us through.
So going into the European game I was filled with trepidation about what a half decent team would do to us. Having said that, I was hoping that we could at least continue the upward trend, if only in being able to compete, if not expecting any kind of result. Alas our previously apparent deficiencies were there for all to see, compounded by us bottling it yet again, from McGregor down.
At least this might actually stop the ‘it was all Rogers fault’ bandwagon that a lot were jumping upon, which was gaining serious traction with the weaker willed individuals among us. There were actually people acting as if all our woes had been miraculously wiped away by Saint Martin, and the board were right all along, lol.
It matters not that the Danish club are only a fraction the size of our club. They play in a league that is superior to ours. We play in an industrial league and when the SFA and the SPL do something about it then it has a chance of improving.
Not only were we outplayed we were physically pushed aside like schoolboys. That was not lost on Martin. He mentioned the physicality of our opponents a couple of times and knows it is a major deficiency in Celtics present make up.
Things have to change in dear auld Scotia
if Scottish teams hope to improve in Europe.
Martin is still the man to guide us through this difficult time and let’s hope it is a short time as the new man has to prepare for the transfer window. (no laughing there).
There is no doubt about how bad we were in Denmark last Thursday, but let’s take a look at the reporting of the biased Daily Record.
“Rangers edged out 3-1 after extra time”. “Made mincemeat of O’Neils men”. “Celtic given hammering in Denmark”. The score in Denmark was also 3-1. and Celtic did win the second half 1-0.