There needs to be a reckoning at Celtic after last night’s shambles. Kairat Almaty has been trumped, and heads should roll for that…

Well, the chickens came home to roost last night for Celtic, they really did.

Everything we feared in the run up to our Champions League qualifier manifested itself, and then some.

Our 3-0 victory last week against the same opposition?

An illusion, a mirage, call it what you want, but all it did was paper over the cracks of the devastating reality at our club.

Most of us were pleasantly surprised at what happened last week at Celtic Park, and for a while there it looked as if the board’s usual Champions League gamble might pay off.

At 3-0 up we surely couldn’t balls this one up, could we?

This is Celtic we’re talking about here, and at this level, we are experts at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Nobody quite does it as well as we do.

At 4-0 on aggregate, the tie should have been dead and buried.

Game management from there on out.

But no – Celtic found a way – even with a 4-0 lead, to f*** it up.

And we f***ed it up it up in the most spectacular Celtic kamikaze style possible.

Even with half a f***ing minute of normal time remaining, we just couldn’t see it out.

I’m not going to post mortem the game.

What’s the point?

One sentence will cover it; we were so utterly shite, we handed it to LASK on a silver platter.

Three of our goals came from basic, basic errors.

I honestly don’t think you’d see errors like the ones we saw last night at a game between the Celtic B team and the Civil Service strollers.

I’m beginning to think that because we’re such a ‘big club’ that we feel that it’s within our gift to hand Champions League qualification to sides who have never participated in the group stages before.

Last season it was Kairat Almaty.

Champions League debutants, thanks to our wonderful benevolence.

This season it’s LASK, a side who’s biggest outlay on a player this summer was £1.5 million.

I know we’re renowned for our charitable causes at Celtic, but last night was next level charity.

You know, I honestly thought the calamity in Almaty couldn’t be trumped, I really didn’t.

But holy shit, we went and outdid that one in style in Austria.

Celtic took laxatives at LASK last night, and shat the bed.

But the result in Linz is actually worse than the result against Kairat Almaty.

While LASK might be a better side than Kairat, we had no advantage against the Kazakh side this time last year.

We went out there with the tie finely balanced at 0-0.

Last night, we were 4-0 up on aggregate against LASK, and we still managed to screw it up.

That makes it so much worse than the result against Kairat.

So now, the blame game starts, and we all know whose door it will be squarely laid at.

Oh, the players are due their fair share of the blame and criticism for such a shambolic result, don’t doubt that.

I’m not going to bother with that.

Instead, I’ll put this correctly into perspective for you.

Our wonderful, genius, and world class board believes it makes sense to wait until we (never) qualify for the Champions League before spending money on the players we need, to eh….qualify for the Champions League.

In addition to this, they see it as smart to asset strip our midfield before our qualifier, and then send us into a game of last night’s magnitude with just five midfielders available to us.

You see, we MUST wait for the Champions League money, which in Celtic’s case, will arrive on the 12th of never.

Ingenious, isn’t it?

Because we were forced into playing our Champions League qualifier with just five midfielders available to us, it was inevitable that all five would have to play.

Especially in an energy sapping game like last night’s.

Where the pitch was torn to shreds, and it inexplicably went to extra time.

When all midfield options are exhausted, who are you left with?

Luke McCowan.

I think I counted one time after his introduction last night where he got a pass away before losing the ball.

One time.

He was solely responsible for LASK’s 5th goal.

In a game of last night’s importance we are relying on a player like Luke McCowan to see us over the line?

He is the kind of player we feel it is worth risking a bounty of £40 million on?

Oh, I don’t blame McCowan.

It isn’t his fault, he is a victim of circumstance.

Martin O’Neill was left with no choice but to play him.

But McCowan was jogging around out there, as if he didn’t have a care in the world, when he was our freshest player.

We’re bringing on a Dundee level midfielder to try and save a Champions League qualifier.

Not because we felt he could save it, but because our world class board left us with absolutely no other choice.

Sickening.

It cost us that £40 million in the end.

We are in the Europa League this season because we deserve to be there.

That is our level.

The board has ensured that.

The real bill for last night’s absolute debacle has yet to fall due.

We don’t know the extent of Kasper Høgh and Cameron Carter-Vickers injuries.

The board will most likely retreat into their usual shell after this, and the players we require will not be forthcoming.

But take it from me, Michael Nicholson cannot and should not survive this one.

There needs to be a reckoning at Celtic after this.

We were assured lessons were learned.

Nothing whatsoever has been learned.

This cannot continue any longer, nor can we tolerate it any longer.

That is now 8 out of 10 Champions League qualifier failures.

Do the honourable thing Michael, resign.

Kairat Almaty has been trumped.

Heads should roll for that.

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