This article was written by Celtic’s own Chris Sutton to the Daily Record.
Brendan Rodgers has done an exceptional job in rebuilding Celtic’s reputation in the Champions League.
Now, the club must ensure this momentum isn’t squandered. Rodgers has delivered on his promise to restore Celtic’s pride on the European stage, and he is eager to continue moving forward. It’s crucial to provide him with every opportunity to do so.
To come this far only to stall would be a grave mistake. It simply cannot happen, so I trust that behind-the-scenes efforts are already in full swing to support him. The buzz around potential American investment in Rangers has been interesting. While such financial boosts may be significant for them, from a Celtic perspective, it’s irrelevant.
At the moment, my former club is focused on pushing forward in Europe rather than looking over their shoulder at domestic rivals. When it comes to investment, the only one that matters for Celtic is their own, and the progress made in this season’s Champions League has undoubtedly reinforced that focus.
I’m not one to dwell on glorious failures. That kind of sycophantic nonsense usually makes me cringe. But I don’t view Celtic’s Champions League exit in Munich as a failure.
Eliminated, yes. But in terms of their standing among Europe’s elite and the potential for their future, the Allianz Arena must be seen as another significant step forward.
Rodgers returned for this. The fans longed for this—to face one of Europe’s giants and stand toe-to-toe with them in knockout football.
It wasn’t long ago that Celtic couldn’t win a game in the Champions League. They lost four out of six last season, and despite Rodgers’ claims to the contrary, I didn’t see much progress.
This season, however, the progress is undeniable. In 10 Champions League games, Celtic lost just three. They earned points on the road, whereas in the past, they were fortunate to avoid heavy defeats.
Celtic Park, once a fortress, had become an easy target for opponents. It was as intimidating as a bouncy castle. But that has changed too. The defeat to Bayern in the first leg was their first home loss in seven games. This is progress—real progress.
From conceding seven goals in Dortmund to putting up a resilient performance in Bavaria, the difference is night and day. This progress cannot be wasted by standing still and basking in praise.
Winning the title is, of course, of utmost importance for obvious reasons. But with Rodgers close to achieving that again, attention must already be turning to the summer qualifiers.
Can you imagine making this kind of progress and then failing to build on it by losing in those qualifiers? It’s not an option, and preparations must already be underway behind the scenes.
The recruitment team and decision-makers must secure the striker they missed out on in January when Kyogo Furuhashi departed. Rodgers could have greatly benefited from integrating a new goalscorer into the squad during the remainder of this season, with next season’s qualifiers in mind. But that ship has sailed.
If current stars are being lined up for sales, their replacements need to be ready to step in as soon as the summer transfer window opens. Celtic cannot afford to waste time in the market.
Rodgers knows the drill. He’s been through these qualifiers before. In his first spell, he patched teams together to scrape through, but eventually, there were too many gaps to fill, and they fell to AEK Athens.
Celtic’s board has backed him. Significant fees have been spent on players like Arne Engels and Adam Idah, and a lucrative contract is likely in the works for Kieran Tierney. But the justification for such spending was evident in Munich. If you invest in top players, you’ll get top performances.
I don’t want to single out Greg Taylor, as I’m a fan of his, but the contrast between how he handled Michael Olise in the first leg and how Jeffrey Schlupp dealt with the winger in the second leg was stark.
I mentioned in this column last week that Celtic looked intimidated for an hour in the first leg. Within a week, they learned their lesson and took the game to Bayern.
Rodgers has shown he can adapt to achieve results in Europe, and the board has demonstrated they can back him. But if Celtic wants to take the next step, bold moves must be made.
Given the strides made this season, it’s imperative that this happens. To waste a season of remarkable progress and miss out on more nights like Munich would be a tragic waste of the incredible work done so far.
