Before You Laugh At Hearts… Celtic Should Be Paying Attention

Ever since Hearts pushed Celtic all the way last season, the narrative has been predictable.

Derek McInnes has gone, Lawrence Shankland has moved on.

Hearts are finished.

Hearts will fall away.

Hearts won’t be anywhere near Celtic this season.

I never really bought into that.

Lose important people and every club has a choice. Stand still or react. Hearts chose to react.

Backed by Tony Bloom’s investment and powered by Jamestown Analytics, Hearts have built a recruitment model designed to replace key figures quickly rather than panic when they leave.

I know this sounds bizarre for us Celtic fans to recognise such a strategy.

Whether every signing proves to be a success is something only time will answer, but they’ve recognised they needed to rebuild and they’ve attacked the transfer market with purpose. That’s what ambitious football clubs do.

Then came Tuesday night and a heavy defeat away to Sturm Graz.

Nobody is pretending otherwise. It was a sore one. A long night for Hearts and a result that leaves their Champions League hopes hanging by the thinnest of threads.

Almost immediately the reaction started.

The memes.

The digs.

The predictable comments about Hearts getting put back in their place.

Rivalries exist for a reason, and Celtic supporters don’t need to feel sympathy for Hearts.

Far from it, after their pathetic greetin and moaning after the League Decider last season.

But while everyone else seemed content laughing at the result, I found myself asking a completely different question.

How would Celtic have coped in that exact same fixture with the squad we’ve currently got?

Not the squad we hope we’ll have by the end of the transfer window.

Not the squad we’re told Martin O’Neill will eventually have.

The squad that’s sitting in front of him today.

Honestly?

I don’t think I’d have watched that game with any great confidence.

That’s not because Hearts are a better team than Celtic.

They aren’t.

It’s because European football has exposed Celtic’s weaknesses often enough for supporters to know better than to become complacent.

It isn’t.

If anything, Celtic’s recent record should have every supporter approaching these qualifiers with caution rather than confidence.

Seven failures from our last nine attempts at Champions League qualification tells you everything you need to know.

That’s not a one-off or bad luck.

Every summer seems to follow a familiar script. We are conditioned to convince ourselves there’s still time.

Another signing is close. Everything will fall into place before the important games arrive.

Then suddenly those important games are here.

The squad still isn’t complete.

New signings are expected to settle overnight.

Martin O’Neill is just the next manager asked to navigate one of the toughest competitions in world football without every tool he needs.

I’ve said it for years, and I’ll keep saying it.

Celtic have to treat the Champions League with the respect it deserves.

It is simply that unforgiving,

Recruitment and preparation wins these ties.

Far too often, Celtic have gambled instead.

Or simply not known how to approach them.

That’s why I couldn’t laugh at Hearts on Tuesday night.

Watching them struggle against Sturm Graz didn’t make me think they were miles behind Celtic.

It made me think about Celtic’s own glaring, obvious and damning failings.

Could we have gone there this week, with this squad, and looked comfortable?

That’s the uncomfortable conversation supporters should be having.

Hearts aren’t really the story.

They’re simply the latest reminder of what happens when you face high-level European opposition.

The real story is Celtic.

Because unless this recruitment drive gathers real momentum, and absolutely no one is convinced of that now, we’re asking ourselves to do something we’ve consistently struggled to do over the last decade.

Qualify for the Champions League.

Supporters shouldn’t ignore that reality simply because another club had a bad night.

If anything, Tuesday should sharpen the focus inside Celtic Park.

Every European result like this should remind those making the decisions exactly what’s coming ahead for us.

That’s why I always tell supporters to Keep Their Eyes on The Board.

Don’t get distracted by transfer rumours or carried away by who’s supposedly close to signing.

Don’t convince yourself everything will somehow fall into place.

Look at what’s actually sitting in Martin O’Neill’s squad today.

Judge Celtic on what’s been delivered, not what’s been promised.

Because that’s the group currently expected to navigate one of the hardest routes into the Champions League.

Likely minus two or three of our most prominent players.

Laugh at Hearts if you want.

Just don’t make the mistake of believing what happened in Austria couldn’t happen to Celtic.

Our own European record suggests exactly the opposite.

Until Celtic start treating the Champions League with the respect it deserves, supporters are right to ask difficult questions.

And as always…

Keep your eyes on the board.