Last night, Brendan Rodgers’ team showed up for the deadly serious business of getting us into the Champions League Promised Land. By the time the full-time whistle went most of us, and the opposition as well, were shell-shocked at the intensity and passion of our play and the home support. For the first time in ages, this club is firing on all cylinders.
In front of us is a fairly straightforward task; go to Israel and don’t lose by three or more goals. It will take a calamity for us to not to be in the Groups now, but some folk will worry about that anyway. Our memories are long, after all.
But I prefer to tantalise myself with the Great What If ..?
As in, what if, come the draw, we’re there?
It’s hard to think about this logically and rationally when it’s been a while since we did this, and it’s even harder to think in terms of who we might play because we’re still somewhat unprepared for that stage. But even if we were to lose every game on it, we’d want to be there anyway. The hacks will sneer that getting there just to be stuffed is pointless, but those dribbling fools know that getting there is, on its own, part of the point.
Everyone knows what getting there means. In this case it’s not the winning that counts but the actual taking part, and whilst we do want to go and give a good account of ourselves no-one is expecting the ultimate miracle, and qualification from a Group. Not yet. But the financial rewards of qualifying are what matter most at the moment … because they can lay the foundation stones for one of the biggest spending sprees in our history.
Just being there also opens up the possibility of going for targets who otherwise might never have sought to come here and play in Scotland, and Brendan will know who the best of them are, and even the cash-rich nature of English football might not matter.
There are, by my reckoning, over 30 European class players on offer, for extended loans, or for transfer, in the EPL right now. Their clubs know they stand little chance of getting big fees for these guys … the only problem would be wages, but some of these players have already hit their peak earnings just being in that league.
There are guys, like Scott Sinclair, who just want to play football again. Some of them are in their 30’s, sure, but some of them are of a sufficient quality as to negate any such concerns. Signing these guys on long term deals would be difficult, if not impossible. This is where loans might have a positive impact, although I’m usually loathe to consider such things, but when you can get real quality why not? And this would be real quality, the kind of players who haven’t come to Scotland since the Martin O’Neill era.
England isn’t everything; there are great players out there in other leagues, available for a fraction of what you’d pay to the EPL. That league has distorted the market somewhat, but guys like Mahrez found their way to that league for relatively minor sums of money. These guys are out there; Brendan has a good eye for them, and then there are those who’ve already made an impression and are simply waiting on the big move.
We will be able to go in and compete for these players again.
The cash on offer to us for qualifying is estimated to be anywhere between £20 million – £40 million depending on results and performances. The actual figure, just for turning up and winning two of the home games, will fall in the middle of that estimate. It’s been years since our club had financial muscle like that, and I do believe we would flex it. It would be crazy not to. Brendan has proved that given resources he can make things happen.
So success or failure in the Groups themselves doesn’t really matter for this year. Being there is enough. Being there gives the club the financial latitude to take a bigger swing at it next year, when the manager has got the team playing exactly how he wants it, and with the players to make it happen.
We live in exciting times, my friends.
In Brendan We Trust.
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