Celtic in Europe 2023-24

It could be because Austria is a more attractive place to live than Scotland. It is centrally located in Europe, has a bigger population, better weather than Glasgow*, it's less dark in winter, it has less poverty and a much higher GDP per capita (somewhat higher than the UK and much higher than Scotland). Salzburg is also one of the most beautiful cities in the entire continent.

Probably more importantly, Red Bull Salzburg are not normal. As far as I can tell from Google, the other big clubs in Austria struggle just as much as we do to attract good players. We can sell the prospect of a move to the EPL; but they have similar links to the Bundesliga and RB Salzburg have obvious links with RB Leipzig.

* It's a bit of a myth that the UK is rainier than other parts of western Europe; but some cities like Manchester and (unfortunately) Glasgow are.

 

I don’t ask for much, can we just have one champions league title in this era?

 

There's also the fact that Scottish football is run by a bunch of inept clowns, and our media is a total embarrassment. Possibly not a game changer for players deciding whether or not to cone to Celtic, but it all adds to the country's reputation of being a complete laughing stock around the football world.

 

For me, there are 3 biggest problems in selling the Scottish league: Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs. I have some sympathy for small Scottish clubs in Europe, but not for these 3. These are not diddy clubs, although they have the European record of diddy clubs. If you go outside the big 5 leagues + Turkey (a huge country), then these are actually 3 decent-sized clubs, with average attendances similar to Braga, AZ Alkmar, Legia Warsaw, Burnley, Brentford, Copenhagen and Malmo and bigger than clubs like Rosenburg or Bournemouth. It's mental how bad their record is.

This has practical consequences. They're not diddy clubs; but players thinking of coming here look at Scottish clubs' European record and think the league is us, the Huns and 8 non-entities.

 

Can't argue against that, but you could also go further up the chain and assign blame to poor coaching practices within youth and grass roots football in Scotland.

The majority of clubs' philosophy up against superior sides is to shut up shop and try and be sleekit (cynical play disguised as 'physicality'). It's a pathetic mindset to instil in to young players and will always put them at a disadvantage going firward in their careers.

That said, I do hope for steady progress by your Abberdeen's, Hearts etc. More exposure should lead to being more comfortable in Europe, on paper at least.

 

Rotterdam away is sounding Naughty

 

Are you sure this is the case? Not heard anything must be this Mon, no?

 

I've been to the Dam a few times but never anywhere else in Holland. So, does Rotterdam have the same special attractions as the Dam ?

 

Nothing on the uefa website as of yet


Probably confirmed on Monday though

 

It does yes not as many albeit the special attractions are still available and won’t be hard shall you seek. Think it will be the best away trip overall tbh Madrid well we all know the old Bill are heavy handed and Rome will just be carnage due too previous incidents with Lazio. I think Rotterdam will be a right party mainly due to a vast majority of the Feyenoord fan base being friendly with some Celtic groups.

 

Yes it was definitely the case. Not sure why it's taken a week.

3 of the English clubs announced there's last Tuesday. Arsenal last night. Huns and ourselves today.

 

Maybe tonight was the deadline..

 

Was last week definitely. Anyway it's out now.

https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsl...-group-stage-squads-player-registration-dead/

 

Feyenoord have Gimenez and UEFA out, unfortunately they sold Danilo so they won't be completely useless up front.

Gimenez being out could be a massive game changer, their main goal threat.

 

Feyenoord up 3-0 against Heerenveen after 20 mins.

 

That is the poorest pot 1 side I've ever seen..

No striker, even the backup striker was out..

A midfield 2 that was wide open at times and a defence that was leaving space to be got at..

We'll never play an easier pot 1 in our lives..

And yet still we couldn't really carve them open enough. We just lack so much quality going forward..

There was decent spells of possession but then we'd go long or just keep going back as we didn't have any ideas..

We're a very one paced side as well. I was desperate for an injection of pace and quality but we didn't address it..

Palma and Bernardo look good players but one paced. Lagerbielke looks the same and even slower. O'Riley who was our best midfielder is quite stiff and one paced. Taylor doesn't have any..

We don't have enough outlets and ball carriers and we're no good enough to consistently play our way out or build from the back. There's always a mistake in us, or a daft challenge..

We're going nowhere in this group. If we addressed a few areas then that wasn't just a game where we could've nabbed a point....it was 100% winnable..

 

100% agree with all of this.

I expected a defeat but seeing how poor they were it's definitely a missed opportunity and just makes our lack of ambition in the summer even more annoying.

I can't get on board with any positives that some think we can take from that match. All this chat about "containing" them etc. After 20 minutes we could see how * they were, this isn't City, Madrid, Bayern or PSG. It's a bang average Feyenoord. Maybe my standards are a little higher than most but it was too meek for my liking.

Don't get me wrong, had Feyenoord came out guns blazing and played us off the park in that first half I would have been happy to walk away with a point. Unfortunately we just didn't have the bravery, desire or skillset to do anything with the opportunity. Instead we did our usual and make stupid mistakes that we never, ever seem to learn from at this level.

Need massive improvements going forward. But looking at our CL squad I'm not sure if we're up to it. People rightly talk about our defensive frailties but we aren't even good enough middle to front and I said this last year too. There's been no improvements though and losing Jota was massive as well.

 

Aye..

Was decent spells and we did pass it well first 20 minutes but we definitely aren't good enough going forward for this level..

We weren't last year and that was with our star player Jota. We're much weaker and don't really look like we believe when we're in the attacking third. There's no real thought or creativity..

 

The actual fixture of when certain games fall has seriously * is again this term …. Playing away first and lazio draw . with Madrid as home game … if lazio win their next game and we lose effectively we are out