The Cream Has Soured – Celtic Are Creating Their Own Ecosystem of Self-Destruction

“The quality of our thoughts affects the quality of our minds.” — Marcus Aurelius

Perhaps that is where Celtic supporters find themselves after the latest European collapse.

The problem isn’t simply that we lost to LASK.

It is the ecosystem Celtic have created around themselves.

A football club that repeatedly tells its supporters to dream, then behaves as though those dreams are unreasonable.

A club with tens of millions in the bank that makes supporters feel spending £10 million on a player is somehow reckless but spending £10 Million on 5 players is ambitious. 

A club that wants Champions League football while building a squad that looks more suited to the Conference League.

Celtic have become the architects of their own self-destruction.

Are Celtic Supporters Really Entitled?

There is an argument that we as supporters have become entitled.

Perhaps we have.

But who created that entitlement?

The board.

Celtic have spent years telling supporters that Champions League qualification is essential.

They sell players for huge sums.

They talk about ambition.

They speak about competing at the highest level.

Then, when supporters ask the club to invest, suddenly we are ungrateful and told to quiet down like a bunch of children. 

Celtic are sitting on a significant cash reserve.

The club are also in profit this season following the sale of Arne Engels.

So why are supporters supposed to feel guilty about demanding investment?

Nobody is asking Celtic to behave irresponsibly.

We are asking them to spend a proportion of the money generated by the football club to improve the football team.

That shouldn’t be controversial.

How Are We Supposed to Compete With This?

Look at the Premier League.

Tottenham have just spent around £75 million on Savinho.

Whether you think Savinho is worth that money is irrelevant.

The market is the market.

Where a player that didn’t even make the Brazil World Cup squad is now one of the world’s most expensive players. 

And then Celtic are expected to compete in the Champions League while shopping in completely different financial waters.

It isn’t fair on Martin O’Neill or the players.

And it certainly isn’t fair on supporters.

Character Is Going to Matter Now

Callum McGregor spoke about character.

Martin O’Neill spoke about needing more leaders in the summer.

Well, now we get to see what Celtic’s character actually is.

Because leadership is difficult when your best players keep being sold.

It’s difficult when experienced players like Iheanacho, Schmeichel, and Saracchi aren’t replaced.

It’s difficult when the squad gets weaker while the expectations remain exactly the same.

You cannot continually remove quality from a dressing room and expect the remaining players to magically develop leadership.

At some point, the club has to provide the tools.

The Champions League Gamble Makes No Sense

Stephen McGowan made an excellent point about Celtic’s approach.

For a board supposedly so cautious with spending, they take the same enormous Champions League gamble every single year.

Spend just enough.

Hope the squad is good enough.

Hope nobody gets injured.

Hope the manager can squeeze every ounce of quality from the players.

Hope the qualification money arrives.

Then, if it doesn’t, everyone acts surprised.

That’s not caution.

That’s gambling with the football club’s biggest financial opportunity.

And the irony is that if Celtic had beaten LASK, I’m not convinced this squad was anywhere near good enough for the Champions League anyway.

We would have gone into Europe’s elite competition with glaring weaknesses.

The Cream Has Soured

For years, Celtic have been happy being the cream of the crap.

Be the biggest club in Scotland.

Dominate domestically.

Take the Champions League money when it comes.

Sell your best players.

Replace them.

Repeat.

But European football is changing.

The coefficient is changing.

Scotland’s position is under pressure.

And Celtic are in a very precarious position now that the Champions League places we have taken for granted for so many years seen considerably harder to reach in future seasons.

The advantage Celtic had is now gone.

And the board know any movement backwards in Europe will require more investment than this board appear prepared to make.

So What Now?

This is the biggest question.

Does Celtic retreat after LASK?

Or do they respond?

Do they say:

“Well, Champions League football is gone, so let’s save some money.”

Or do they say:

“We failed because the squad wasn’t good enough, so let’s fix it.”

Because if we genuinely want to compete in the Europa League, challenge domestically and improve our European standing, the answer should be obvious.

Spend the money.

Build a squad.

Don’t ask supporters to lower their expectations because you refuse to raise theirs.