Celtic did not deserve to be in the Champions League

Ronny Deila’s Celtic lost 1-0 to Maribor in the Champions League play-off last night to exit the competition

SPL champions Celtic exited the Champions League at the play-off stages last night, losing 1-0 at home to Slovenian side Maribor.

The 75^th minute goal from Maribor’s leading ever goalscorer Tavares was only what the Eastern European side deserved after being the better team for much of the game.

Ronny Deila’s Celtic team had looked like they had done the hard work by drawing away in the first leg 1-1, only to throw away their chances of making it to the group stages with this woeful defeat.

Undeserved

I have to say that I did not believe that Celtic should have been in the play-off anyway.

They were completely outplayed by Polish side Legia Warsaw in the last round and only got through because of Legia bringing a ineligible player on as a substitute with just a few minutes remaining in the second leg.

The player in question had no bearing on the result of the tie, which by that time had well been decided as Celtic were losing 6-1 on aggregate. Legia being thrown out of the competition over a technicality was far too harsh a punishment.

Rules may be rules, but Legia gained no advantage from having the ineligible player on the pitch, so surely a lesser punishment should have sufficed? A lot of Celtic fans would disagree, but I think most neutrals would agree.

Poor

The quality of the current Celtic squad is poor. The Hoops board seem to like to do things on a shoestring budget and consistently sell their best players. England international keeper Fraser Forster is a case in point.

The former-Newcastle star was sold to Southampton for a fee in the region of £10million, after Celtic was seemingly eliminated from Champions League qualification. His replacement Craig Gordon is not terrible, but prior to arriving at the club he had been out the game for a long period of time.

That situation sums up how the Celtic hierarchy like to operate. They do not like to invest money in the club, they are just interested in what they can take out the club and it is the fans that end up suffering.

They consistently bring in loan players or players for small fees, despite the club reportedly being in a healthy financial position.

The fans have been very loyal to their club in recent years, despite the fact that the Hoops board keep diluting the quality of their team. If they continue in the same vein though, fans may just lose faith and stop filling their pockets with money.

The Hoops board even took the cheap route in appointing current boss Ronny Deila, who was unheralded outside Scandinavia really. The decision to appoint Deila just summed up the attitude of the Celtic hierarchy.

Hammered

Had Celtic made it through to the group stages of the Champions League then they could have been humiliated. If Legia Warsaw can hammer the Hoops 6-1 over two legs, what would the likes of Bayern Munich, Barcelona or Real Madrid do to them in the Champions League group stages?

Celtic teams of the past have enjoyed decent runs in Europe, but that was when they had a decent core of players, even if they were not top level performers. This team seems to be lacking any sort of quality.

Shame

I have to say it is the Celtic fans that I feel sorry for at this moment in time. They have been short-changed by greedy owners and the exit from the Champions League will hit the club financially. Unfortunately that will mean the quality of the team being diluted yet again, if that is possible.

Celtic’s owners and players do not deserve to be in Europe’s elite competition, even if Celtic’s loyal fans do.

Should the Celtic board be investing more money in better quality players?