SO once again we have a situation where there are no teams from Scotland in European competition after Christmas.
It is yet another piece of evidence, as if we needed it, to prove how far Scottish football has fallen.
At least Celtic went down fighting against Manchester City on Tuesday night but the fact is that the Hoops finished bottom of the group and never looked like winning any of the games against Barcelona or Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Brendan Rodgers and his team will have learned a lot and if Celtic continue to progress they have genuine aspirations of making the last 16 of the Champions League in future.
There is no doubt that the manager will have to keep his best players and add even more quality to the squad. Celtic will be able to do that in the January transfer window as they have probably profited by north of £20 million from the Champions League outings.
If one of the big clubs down south decides that Moussa Dembele is good enough for them, then Celtic could add another £15-£20 million to the bank account – not bad for an outlay of £500,000.
That would give the Parkhead club a war chest which would enable them to buy some seriously good footballers, which in turn would confirm their domestic supremacy for a long time to come.
The Celtic board must have the vision to do that and back Rodgers in his plans because it really is so important for Celtic to be in the Champions League each year and you just have to remember how close they came to not qualifying this season.
Where would such recurring income leave the rest of Scottish football? The answer is just about where it has been for a number of years, with Celtic out in front almost permanently – nine in a row? They could make it ten, a dozen, 15 or more.
If even a portion of the rumours surrounding Rangers’ finances are true then it is difficult to see how the Ibrox club will fund a sustained assault on Celtic’s position at the top of the Premiership.
As for playing in Europe, the financial fair play rules may not be as flexible as some people in Glasgow think and UEFA might just say ‘no’ to Rangers getting back into Europe for a while.
What the national game really needs is for clubs that were regulars in Europe like Aberdeen and Hearts – and Hibs and Dundee United – to really step up to the mark and make an impact in Europe and after what happened to them earlier this season, it is very difficult to see either the Dons or the Jambos doing that next year.
In turn that will have implications for the dreaded Uefa coefficient which dictates how many clubs you get in Europe and in which round they start in qualifying. We are getting very near to the stage where Scotland’s clubs will start the season with almost impossible qualification tasks, and that is truly worrying.
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