GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - AUGUST 13: Rangers' Robin Propper at full time during a UEFA Champions League Qualifier 2nd Leg match between Rangers and Dynamo Kyiv at Hampden Park, on August 13, 2024, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Alan Harvey/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Well, as I said yesterday, Celtic’s Champions League draw has turned out to be very fortuitous.
There are a series of winnable games in there, particularly at home, and even the away fixtures aren’t as tough or complex as we might have been feeling, although, when you get a Champions League semi-finalist and a Europa League winner away from home, as well as one of the surprise packages in the English Premiership last season, it would be foolish in the extreme to call that easy.
But I think the remaining five games are very, very navigable, and we have a good opportunity here.
Earlier in the summer, if you had been looking for one team from Glasgow to progress in Europe and the other to flounder, most people would have said it would have been us who were on the receiving end of some dire results.
And I myself thought we would be in trouble because of the probability of getting the “Group Of Death” in the Champions League.
But we dodged that bullet and then some. Yesterday we had a draw which I’m still ecstatic over, and I’m going to be honest, ecstatic is the word I’m using.
Imagine how much happier I am having seen the draw that the Ibrox club just got.
It’s exactly what they would have wanted to avoid in the second tier tournament. They have at least five high-calibre opponents and four away matches, which I would not have wished on any club… except for them.
There’s nothing easy about their draw. There is nothing straightforward about it. It seems to me that they got the draw I was worried about us getting. And the thing is, although their fans are calling their group a Champions League group and ours a Europa League group, guess what? We still get Champions League money, and they still get Europa League money. We have an opportunity to progress, and they’re probably going to get pumped.
So yeah, I think that’s very, very funny.
I think that this year we could very well be the coefficient kings, racking up the coefficient points while they flounder badly. And that makes me smile.
Watching it will make me laugh.
I’m particularly pleased that they got Spurs because that is the tie they would have wanted to avoid at all costs. Ange Postecoglou’s team going to Ibrox and taking on that pitiful side they’ve got could be an embarrassment for the ages, and I’m so looking forward to seeing how that goes. Manchester away? That’s a city that will not welcome them back with open arms. To say they have bad memories of Ibrox fans would be an understatement. And I very much doubt they will be looking forward to it, although Manchester United certainly should be.
Not everything about their draw today screams “Group Of Death” and that suits me just fine. Because it spells the end of all the media talk, for a while, about how well they can do in the tournament and how far they might go in it.
Everyone was gearing up to sharpen their pencils and predict their progression while suggesting we’d be the team that drags Scotland down. Maybe that’ll happen. Everyone knows where I stand on it. If it does, I know exactly who I’m going to blame for it.
But I think the potential for major embarrassment is far more likely to be found on the other side of Glasgow than at Celtic Park, as we have a chance to prove ourselves in major European football again.
The format was certainly interesting.
I found both draws much more fun to watch than I would have imagined. I like the way UEFA has done it. I like the way they’ve still managed to turn it into a television event, which I didn’t expect when I heard that the computer was going to make the draw. You think to yourself, well, we’re not going to see that then, we’ll just get presented with a fixture list.
But it didn’t turn out that way, and I liked how it was done. But I’m especially happy about how the draws have turned out. We couldn’t have asked for better, we couldn’t have asked for more, and we should be able to navigate successfully into the qualifying round at the very least. They could barely have done worse across the city, and Ange Postecoglou is already smirking.
He’s not the only one. After this weekend, I’ll be looking forward to them all.
I’m also happy that they will have to accommodate a large number of away supporters whether they like it or not due to EUFA rules not SPL rules. That means away team fans can really enjoy rubbing their noses in the drubbings that will surely come.
The funniest thing all day in Sky Sports News was all the transfer dealings taking place,players being sold and moved on for mullions and mullions of pounds lol from one team to another.
Then yiu have transfer news of sevco players being sold in bric-a-brac nickel&dime Paddy’s transfer market, Barbie away for washers and Wright for some loose change.
Then they get SCUDDED into a belter of a group for fish supper cup of European football.
How apt? The club who died are in the group of death – just where they belong. Turning attention to signings. If Lennon had signed Engels for Celtic to make Marks in Europe, Would he have been accused of signing too many left wingers.
OK. I’ll get my coat and Trot along. Or perhaps I’ll sip a cocktail and ponder how to get Molotov into this nonsense. BOOM! BOOM!
P.S. I hope this appeals to your old leftie sympathies.
Big Ange’s team with neutral officials
It could be a hammering
Another European record perhaps? Certainly not a bumper to the bank account. Must be a conspiracy
True James, I’m still laughing, got to be a chance of double figures some team or more will turn over sevco for.
Really looking forward to both set of games now , jelly and ice cream on speed dial HH.
I have often wondered why more football associations and leagues do not (appear to?) use software to arrange fixtures. Can you imagine the grief that the SFA would experience if Celtic and The Rangers, their big money game, were drawn together in an early round?
I see them picking up max 2 points and most likely 1…. Not gonna labour on them too long I am sure they have a couple more players to punt for 6 figures before the day is out.
Immediate concern is Sunday of course and what team they will put out. Probably some debuts at Celtic fan only Parkhead… Mouth watering.
Could be a few big lessons coming their way to Xmas. Klan tears in a jar from Santa.
Totally agree ! I am buzzing with our draw . There are no easy games in the CL but we avoided every heavy hitter in pot 1 and 2 . The home games are superb and apart from Leipzig we should be looking for 9 points ! I was at the last Leipzig game when we lost 2-0 and as usual up until the 60/70 minute we were as good but lost stupid goals !
As for sevco they must be shitting themselves !
Aye good to back posting again James after a pure fab week’s holiday in Ireland !
Aye the draw was very decent for Celtic for sure and not so much for Sevco thankfully…
They are absolutely hated in Manchester for obvious reasons and when I stop off there on ma way to watch ma favourite English unfashionable team I sometimes get asked by folks “What’s your favourite Scottish one” so says I, “Have a guess” and get met with “Please say CELTIC” ! – They then say “Thank fuck it’s not Rangers” and I tell them “Rangers” are dead as The Do-Do so I think The Manchester cops will be well ready for them this time and they won’t like it one little bit !!!
Hell Fcukin Mend Them !
Do you ever learn james .?
My only disappointment with the draws is that I was planning on cancelling my TNT subscription but I can’t bring myself to do that now!
As for the league, the Huns will now have a glut of Sunday games to play. Sky TV executives will not be pleased at this turn of events. They will be unable to conjure up their usual trick, of having the Huns’ play before us.
Hail Hail.
Popcorn, icecream and 10 tons of gloating manure to spread over the slope they need climb up and over.
They sure supply the banter.